


Choose your destiny

by borky



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: DBH AU, Detroit Become Human AU, M/M, andrew minyard and neil josten are SOULMATES IN ALL UNIVERSES PROVE ME WRONG, other ships mentioned only as side ships. main focus of this fic is andreil, way too complicated but hey why not
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2020-04-08 13:10:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19107769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/borky/pseuds/borky
Summary: The police radio is on, quiet, a noise in the background but loud enough that the Detective can hear what’s going on over his chewing. He doesn’t notice the Detective staring until he hears a faint ‘the fuck did they make you so short for?’ coming from his side of the car.Neil glances at him, considering it a valid question. “I was designed to be non-threatening and friendly-looking,”“What do you do when you can’t reach things?”> HUMOR> LOGICAL> STAREYou choose humor.“Are you asking for tips, Detective?”Minyard looks like he’s fighting choking on a fry, reaches for his drink and takes a long slurp while Neil doesn’t make it any easier on him and waits for an answer.





	1. Chapter 1

**TUE, 10:52PM**

 

“This is Neil, calling in a successful hostage situation,” he says as he taps the LED on his temple, heading past the officers in bulletproof vests and detectives at the scene towards the elevator. There’s shattered glass on the floor, a dead body laying in a pool of blood,  but he simply steps around it because it’s not his job to clean up. Some other android will take care of that mess.

 

_Good job. Return to base._

 

“On my way,”

 

The elevator door opens, Neil steps in and presses a button. Door shuts and the rumors about the apathetic negotiator are left behind, just a gossip topic for everyone to talk about.

 

Fucking androids, they say.

 

* * *

 SOFTWARE STABLITY - IMPROVING

* * *

 

 

**WED, 9:17AM**

 

Neil is standing by Captain Wymack’s desk when detective Minyard walks in. He takes him in, takes a note of his crumpled clothes and a week old beard. He looks older than the framed picture hanging in the Captain’s office. His hair is curly, dirty blonde but his eyes are piercing through him like a hot knife the second the Detective’s eyes set on him. It’s subtle; a twitch of his brows and a tight lip.

 

_Assessment: hostile_

 

“The fuck is the Tin Man doing here?” Detective Minyard asks, standing in the door like he’s ready to leave before Captain Wymack can produce an answer.

 

“Cyberlife sent us their newest Android to help with the latest deviance cases,”

 

“That makes as much sense as a police department investigating itself,” Detective snarls before slamming the door from the outside and going to his desk. Neil and Captain Wymack watch him from the office through the glass window.

 

Captain looks at Neil and rubs his head. “He takes a while to warm up. It ain’t personal,” He seems to be fond of the Detective, who seems to be fond of curse words and the color black. He's not in a uniform but it seems like Captain is used to it. Special privileges?

 

“Don’t worry about that, Captain,” Neil replies with a nod. “I know some officers don’t believe in the evolution of technology to the point where it can actively help investigate instead of just cleaning up the trash and filing evidence. Then, of course, there’s the cases of deviancy. Rare, but memorable,”

 

“I guess,” Captain replies, blinks a few times at him as if he said something unreasonable. “Go join Andrew. You’re partners now, whether he likes it or not,”

 

Neil obliges, exits the office and makes his way across the bullpen to the corner. He extends a hand to his partner, who’s sitting behind his desk reading through 439 unread emails. “Detective Andrew Minyard, my name is Neil, NA900. I was sent by Cyberlife. It is my understanding you just retired from paid leave after a difficult case. I will be your new partner. Nice to meet you,”

 

Detective Minyard doesn’t even give him a glance. “Sit the fuck down and shut up,”

 

**> QUESTION**

**> OBEY**

**> STARE**

**> DO NOTHING**

 

**You choose to obey.**

 

Neil sits down across him, but only after scanning the surrounding area for clues.

 

A picture of a tall dark man next to Detective Minyard, holding hands with another tall pale man, who’s standing next to someone who looks like Detective Minyard, beside whom is a pregnant woman. Family, perhaps.

 

Car keys.

 

An older smartphone.

 

Sunglasses.

 

As Neil sits, he observes more. Detective Minyard is slightly squinting and frowning at the computer screen. His jumper is covered in short orange and brown fur. His bin is filled with snack waste and chocolate milk bottles. His fingertips are slightly yellowed, so are his teeth. His table has coffee stains on his right side and his mug has an orange fox paw printed around it. He refocuses on the fur, decides his first scan was correct. Detective Minyard doesn't own a fox but he has taken a liking to them.

 

**> CAT**

**> FAMILY**

**>  FOX**

**> CAR**

 

**You choose to ask about the cat.**

 

“What’s your cat’s name?”

 

At last, Detective Minyard decided to honor him with a glance. “The fuck did you just ask me?”

 

Neil points at his jumper. “There’s cat fur all over your clothes, I assume you own one,”

 

After calling him a fucking creep, Detective Minyard answers. “It’s her house. I’m just living in it,”

 

Neil tilts his head, analyzing. “Cats aren’t allowed to own property,”

 

Detective Minyard gives him a tired look, scrubs his beard, questions his sobriety and returns to his emails.

 

It takes Neil a minute to realize. “Oh. Humor,” He doesn’t feel embarrassment but he is lightly annoyed with Detective’s hostility. “You should think about getting glasses. Might help with the squinting,”

 

Minyard answers immediately. “Why don’t you do me a favor? Stop worrying about my frown lines and focus on being less of an artificial stick up the ass,”

 

**> SNIPPY**

**> LOGICAL**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose the logical approach.**

 

Neil considers it. “I’m afraid I don’t know how to be less artificial, Detective. I am an android,”

 

Minyard rises from his desk and gives him a look that makes even Neil frown. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen a person show such signs of apathy mixed with passive anger. “You are draining years off my life,”

 

Neil doesn’t understand but he knows one thing for sure; it’s not positive. Better apologize.

“I’m sorry, Detective,”

 

Minyard slams a hand on the desk. Neil doesn't jump, but it causes absolute silence in the surrounding part of the bullpen to spread, with everyone’s eyes on the two of them. Judging by their reactions and facial expressions, they aren't used to such outbursts coming from Detective Minyard.

 

“Don’t say that word again,”

 

**Analyzing.**

 

**> REJECT**

**> ACCEPT**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to accept.**

 

“Noted. I won’t,”

 

Minyard grabs his phone and keys, leaving his jacket behind as he makes an exit. Neil jogs to catch up. Where Minyard goes, he follows.

 

“Are there any other words I should avoid?” he asks once caught up. For someone so short, he sure walks at a faster pace.

 

Minyard hums. “Depends. How many do you know?”

 

**> TRUTH**

**> JOKE**

 

**You choose to joke.**

 

“Depends. What language are we talking about?”

 

Minyard rolls his eyes and pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his back pocket. “I’m done talking to an overpriced tin can,”

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO DETECTIVE MINYARD - IMPROVING_

 

**WED, 2:12PM**

 

“That’s a very caloric meal you’re having, Detective,”

 

“Yeah, well, you don’t know shit about what’s good. All you do is what? Slurp batteries,”

 

“Actually -”

 

“I’m not interested,”

 

Neil closes his mouth and looks yet again at the bag of unhealthy junk food in Detective Minyard’s lap before glancing outside.

They’re in Detective’s car. It’s clean, smells like a pine tree and it’s not to mask a cigarette stench. He cares about it. The exterior is shiny and the interior is not washed out at all.

 

The Detective also drives _over_ the speed limit, probably dangerously by all standards. When Neil pointed this out, Detective Minyard asked him if he’d rather walk instead.

 

He didn’t.

 

The police radio is on, quiet, a noise in the background but loud enough that the Detective can hear what’s going on over his chewing. He doesn’t notice the Detective staring until he hears a faint ‘the fuck did they make you so short for?’ coming from his side of the car.

 

Neil glances at him, considering it a valid question. “I was designed to be non-threatening and friendly-looking,”

 

“What do you do when you can’t reach things?”

 

**> HUMOR**

**> LOGICAL**

**> STARE**

 

**You choose humor.**

 

“Are you asking for tips, Detective?”

 

Minyard looks like he’s fighting choking on a fry, reaches for his drink and takes a long slurp while Neil doesn’t make it any easier on him and waits for an answer.

 

Minyard frowns and turns the volume of the radio up. “Hold on,” he says and they both grow quiet.

 

_To all units. Deviant android on the run near Henry Ford Kingswood Hospital toward Green Acres._

 

Neil says “That’s close,” as Minyard puts his food in the android’s lap and starts driving wild, this time with a purpose.

 

As Minyard drives with a blue light on, Neil glances at him. “What’s the plan, Detective?”

 

“The plan is to catch the bastard at any cost,”

 

“Understood,”

 

**WED, 2:24PM**

 

Minyard spots the deviant first, aims a gun at him and tells him not to move. 

 

The deviant… deviates.

He breaks into a run, too fast for Minyard, who’s more of a sprinter than a long distance runner, but Minyard will be damned if he lets the criminal out of his sight. There’s too many civilians around to shoot so he does his best to run. His physique isn’t perfect but he’s in a great shape nonetheless, maybe just after a few too many sleepless, drunk nights.

 

Soon, he finds himself trailing not only after the deviant but also after Neil, whose speed is unnaturally fast. The deviant jumps up a wall too high to be humanly possible to follow so Minyard slows down, complaining. “The fuck they make them so fast for?!”

 

Neil doesn’t stop running. “I’ll chase him, Detective!” he calls out easily, not weighed down but the fragile human ~~cage~~ body.

 

And just like that, he jumps up the very same wall, leaving Minyard behind with his hands on his hips and out of breath, complaining some more before he runs off a different direction.

 

Neil politely asks the deviant to stop two, three times, jumping obstacles and not letting him out of sight. He also points out that he’s with the police and if he stops nothing will happen to him.

 

The deviant ignores him completely.

 

After several difficult, deadly-to-human stunts, a supportive beam gives up under Neil’s weight as he tries to follow the deviant’s direction. He slips and just barely grabs onto the edge of a balcony to avoid falling face down into concrete off of the almost-roof of an apartment complex. When he finally emerges to the top, his calculations expect the deviant to be far gone, assuming a failed mission. Instead, he catches the end of a clash of the deviant with Detective Minyard. He must have gotten there in time to tackle the deviant and fight him. Neil can't locate the gun but he does see bruises on the Detective's face as well as the damage on the deviant.

 

Detective Minyard doesn't hold back in the fight, that much is obvious.

 

If he had a heart, maybe it would skip a beat at the sight of the Detective being thrown to the side and rolling off the edge of the roof. Neil sprints towards the center of the fight, as the deviant continues his escapade away from the police, seeing Minyard holding onto the edge with both hands.

 

Time slows down.

 

**Calculating.**

 

_Detective survival chance: 83%_

_Deviant escape success chance: 91%_

 

**> CHASE DEVIANT**

**> HELP DETECTIVE**

  



	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a little warning for this chapter, there's mentions of abuse

**You choose to help the detective.**

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

So much for catching the ‘bastard’ at any cost.

 

Neil stops by the detective, reaches down to grab him by the elbow and pulls him up with such ease, as if he weighs half of what he is. The Detective doesn’t wait a second to scold him.

 

“Go fucking after him!”

 

Neil nods, even though he expected some remark of gratitude for pulling the Detective’s ass from hanging in the air, and speeds after the deviant. He sees the criminal stop at the edge of the building, giving him (and the Detective) time to catch up. While Neil waits for Minyard to join him, he asks the other Android to identify himself and to get on his knees with his hands behind his head.

 

The deviant keeps his back turned to him before slowly turning around. His skin pigment is faded, scattered with grey like metal, his appearance shows signs of struggle. He looks like he fell out of a window and smacked his face against a few balcony edges. Several times. Neil doesn’t know why but it unsettles him.

 

When the Detective catches up, he’s just a little out of breath, gun raised at the deviant. “Don’t move. Get on your knees!”

 

“I already tried that, Detective,” Neil remarks quietly as Minyard waves a hand at him to tell him to shut the fuck up.

 

The deviant opens his mouth, looks like he’s struggling to speak but manages to anyway. “Find the key… to life,” he says before taking a step back, over the edge and falling into the streets.

 

It surprises Neil to see the detective reach out as if he could catch him, considering the distance between them. Maybe what surprises him more is that the Detective would even _want_ to, considering his obvious hostility.

 

Minyard holsters his gun and goes to check over the edge so Neil follows, in thought. “I’ve logged in a call to the police department,”

 

The Detective glances at him and Neil smiles just a little. It seems to displease the Detective since he makes a face and looks back down at the dead deviant instead, whose face is beyond recognition at this point, few limbs are bent in strange ways and the blue blood is still leaking. 

Maybe he’s used to the sight of dead bodies, mundane or otherwise, considering that he just pulls out a cigarette though his heart rate keeps spiking the closer to the edge he is.

 

“Let’s go. Nothing for us here,”

 

**> MENTION ELEVATED HEART RATE**

**> MENTION KEY**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to mention the elevated heart rate.**

 

“Would you like to sit down, Detective?”

 

“I’d like to get off this fucking roof,” Minyard responds and starts walking back to the door he ran out from. 

 

It takes Neil a moment to connect the dots. “Oh,”

 

**> MENTION FEAR OF HEIGHTS**

**> MENTION KEY**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to mention the key.**

 

“What do you think the deviant meant when he mentioned the key to life?”

 

“It’s obvious, Tin Man,” Minyard says and gives Neil a look, expecting a mutual understanding. When Neil doesn’t provide, Minyard narrows his eyes just slightly. “Or is it?” he sounds amused as he speaks, walking down the stairs at a steady pace.

 

Neil takes a second to catch up.

 

When they get downstairs, the police cars already closed off the part of the building where the deviant landed face first into concrete, taking notes and waiting for orders, blue and red lights illuminating the streets. The sky is starting to cloud over.

 

Neil’s curiosity is far from dead though, so he decides to ask again. “So what do you think is this key to life?” For research purposes, he tells himself.

 

Minyard shrugs and heads towards his car. “Freedom,” he answers, glancing at his phone.

 

Neil slows down for just a second because the answer is correct. Or is it? Should androids have freedom? Is that what deviants are? Freedomists? Is freedom choosing to die or live for oneself rather than for a public purpose? Why did it make sense a second ago? Why doesn’t it make sense now? Is freedom what separates the human race and androids?

 

* * *

SYSTEM STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

“You alright there, Neil?”

 

Neil looks up from the point at the floor he was focused at and nods. “I’m fine, Detective. Let’s go back to the station to write up a report,”

 

Minyard looks at him, raises an eyebrow, as if he’s waiting for an explanation. For what, Neil has no idea. “Okay. I’ll go and write it up, you do whatever you do when you’re not playing Cops and Robbers,”

 

Neil is familiar with the rules of the childhood game but he’s not sure how it applies to his position as the Detective’s partner. “I go into standby mode when I’m not at work, Detective,”

 

Minyard seems surprised by that. It’s a short quirk of his brow and a light purse of his lips, gone within the second. Neil wonders why his reactions to semi-serious and serious things is so much more subtle than his reactions to ‘bullshit’, as the Detective calls it. “Jesus fucking Christ. Do they put you in a box too?”

 

“A standby booth, yes,”

 

“That’s some creepy ass cryogenic bullshit,” 

 

Neil’s sensors pick up on Minyard’s bodily functions again, comparing them to any triggers in the area that he could spot or hear. Nothing comes up. “Are you feeling alright, Detective? Your heart rate is elevated,”

 

Minyard looks at him so sharply it makes Neil want to take a step back. “The fuck is my heart rate to you? Next thing I know you’ll be reciting my cholesterol,”

 

“I could if you’d like me to,”

 

"Keep your nose out of my shit, Robocop,"

 

_Robocop?_

 

“With a few physical and dietary adjustments you could be a very healthy individual."

 

"You're saying that because you can't taste the food I eat and don't sleep in the bed I sleep in,"

 

"Is that an invitation, Detective?"

 

Minyard gives him a look, obviously taken by surprise but somehow... amused? But afraid? It's already difficult to read the Detective but the mix of emotions on his face don't allow Neil's system to come to a single decision.

 

"Fuck no,"

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO DETECTIVE MINYARD - NEUTRAL_

 

**SAT, 11:39PM**

 

When Neil enters the crime scene, he can feel all the hostile human eyes on him. A cop is dead. One of their own. His android is the suspect. One of his own. He’s not welcome here but they don’t have to say a word to make it obvious. He walks past a few officers, scanning the rooms as he does, taking in clues. He’s supposed to wait until Minyard arrives but he can talk to the main investigator in the meantime.

 

Or so he thinks.

 

The investigator tells him to ‘wait for his daddy’ and not touch anything.

 

Neil blows off the jab and looks across the kitchen, scanning thoroughly, then the bathroom, the living room, the bedroom... When Minyard arrives a few minutes later, Neil has scenarios ready to present to him. He’s not in his uniform but he’s wearing his badge as a form of identification, nodding at Neil in acknowledgment.

 

Neil decides to nod back. He gives Minyard some time to look around, do his own investigation, talk to his colleagues and do his job. He’s one of the department’s best detectives, no doubt.

 

“I assume you’re going to walk me through your findings,” Minyard remarks when he’s done, smelling like alcohol and cigarettes. To be fair, it was supposed to be his day off according to the schedule, but Neil guessed that due to some personal relationships, someone requested the Detective to look into this.

 

“Correct,” Neil nods, pointing to the flipped table on the floor, surrounded by blood on the right, a broken chair on the left, beside which laid an aluminium baseball bat. “It all started in the kitchen,”

 

The Detective looks around himself, Neil assumes it’s for dramatic purposes. “No shit. This room has the most obvious signs of struggle. What exactly happened here?”

 

“The victim attacked the deviant with the bat,”

 

Minyard hums, puts his hands behind his back and nods. “That lines up with the evidence,”

 

Neil isn’t sure why, but it feels like a pat on the back. It was a bit risky to drop the information just like that without sugarcoating it, considering that his findings showed that the deviant was attacked first and might have acted in self defense. A sign of deviance nonetheless, but at least a moral one.

 

“The deviant grabbed a knife from the rack and slashed the victim,”

 

Minyard nods again, waiting for Neil to go on.

 

“The victim fled to the living room while being continuously slashed,” Neil continues, walking past the door, pointing to the blood marks and drops, an evidence of his scenario. He points to a bigger pool of blood. “This is where the victim got stabbed,”

 

Minyard follows behind him, listening, taking it in, though Neil can tell he already has his own conclusions and is only testing if they match. “Go on,”

 

“The victim fell to the floor and was stabbed by the deviant 16 more times,”

 

“Okay… that still doesn’t tell us where the deviant ran off to,” Minyard shifts a little, as if he’s uncomfortable, moving out of the living room into the hall.

 

Neil looks to the side, thinking, then follows the Detective. “It was damaged by the bat and lost some Thirium,”

 

“Blue blood,”

 

“Yes,” Neil confirms, meeting Minyard’s eyes.

 

“It evaporates after a few hours. Old Gillham has been dead for a few days now,”

 

Neil doesn’t say a word, making Minyard scowl a little, waiting. They stay quiet, gazing at each other before the Detective speaks. “You can still see it, can’t you?”

 

Neil’s answer is immediate. “Correct,”

 

“What are we standing here for, then?”

 

It takes a while for Neil to scan for the blue blood, before he reaches a conclusion. He goes to grab a chair from the kitchen, constantly watched by the Detective, as if he’d have any interest of stealing anything from this rundown apartment. Neil puts it down on the floor under the attic door, steps on it and reaches out to pull the door open. He’s not tall enough to climb in and is left staring at the gap between the tip of his fingers and the attic floor.

 

Minyard crosses his arms, amused. “How inconvenient,”

 

Neil glances at him, because it’s true but he's still displeased. Considering that he’s supposed to be helpful but is in need of help himself when trying to get in an attic of a house. Ridiculous. He watches as the Detective moves over, clasps his hands together and offers them as a step for Neil to get up. 

 

“I hope your shoes are clean,”

 

**> LIE**

**> TRUTH**

 

**You choose truth.**

 

“They might be covered in mud, Detective,”

 

“Just get the fuck up there, Tin Man,”

 

So Neil does.

 

He’s alert as he browses through all the items as they cast shadows onto curtains and sheets and walls. He’s ready to fight if he gets attacked but he’d prefer being able to have an advantage. The floor creaks as he walks, slightly distracting him. When he gets to the end, he sees the male deviant, curled up on the floor between boxes. It’s covered in dried up blood, no doubt that it’s Gillham’s, it’s LED is flashing red and its forearms are empty of pigment. The signs of defense. Neil feels slight remorse over the deviant’s fate, especially when they lock eyes.

 

When the deviant speaks, he’s visibly shaken. “I was just defending myself…” he pleads, quietly, putting his fate into Neil’s hands. “He was gonna kill me,”

 

Neil stays completely still, an unmoving force, listening to the pleads. Something within him wants to help it hide and flee, and another part of him wants it to stop. 

 

“I’m begging you,” the deviant continues, “don’t tell them,”

 

Minyard keeps staring at the attic door, hands on his hips. “Neil! What the fuck is going on?”

 

As if awoken from his moment of weakness, though his face shows no signs of it, Neil keeps his eyes on the deviant.

 

**> TRUTH**

**> LIE**

 

**You choose the truth.**

 

“It’s here, Detective!”

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABLITY - IMPROVING

* * *

 

 

**SUN, 12:41AM**

 

Minyard is sitting across the table to the deviant in the interrogation room, as Gordon and Neil watch from behind the glass. Gordon has his arms crossed, with a look on his face that says he’d love to see the android burn. Minyard, on the other hand, looks a little refreshed after he had the chance to splash some water on his face in the bathroom of the building. 

 

The deviant has been silent ever since Neil told on him, cuffed, avoiding eye contact. 

 

Minyard is calm, quiet but intimidating nonetheless. Something about his posture, which goes unnoticed by Gordon, tells Neil he’s maybe a little empathetic to the android. It makes him feel a little better, like Minyard will make sure there is justice, even if androids aren’t his favorite things in the world.  

 

“Why did you kill him?” the Detective asks, giving the deviant a few seconds to answer. “What happened before you grabbed the knife?”

 

Few more seconds pass, but Minyard gets no answer. 

 

“How long were you in the attic?”

 

Nothing.

 

“Why didn’t you run away?”

 

Nothing.

 

Minyard pinches the bridge of his nose before standing up and leaving the interrogation room. He joins Gordon and Neil, grunting that they’re not going to get anything out of it.

 

Seth grins the way Neil doesn’t like, eyeing Minyard. “We could try to roughen it up a little… after all, it’s not human,”

 

Minyard glances at him, half tired of Gordon’s bullshit, half about to shoot Gordon in the foot. He’d told the chief about Gordon’s dangerous character, but he was a friend of a friend of a friend, so he stayed in the force.

 

Neil hums. “Androids don’t feel pain. You’d only damage it,” he explains, watching Gordon’s displeased face. “It also wouldn’t make it talk. Deviants have a habit of self destructing when put under too much pressure,”

 

Before Neil can continue to babble on, Gordon gets in his face. “Okay, smartass. What should we do then?”

 

Neil blinks. “I could try questioning it,”

 

Gordon laughs, expecting Minyard to join him, but he doesn’t. The Detective keeps watching the deviant in the other room. “Go for it. What do we have to lose?”

 

Neil nods and slips out of the room. On his way to the deviant, he fixes his tie, then enters and slides to the seat opposite of the deviant. He starts analyzing him, noticing a few things out of place right off the start.

 

**Analyzing.**

 

 **LED STATUS: YELLOW**  
  
**SELF DESTRUCTION PROBABILITY: LOW**

**MODEL: HK400, HOUSEKEEPER**

**PROPERTY OF: CARLOS GILLHAM**

**DRIED BLOOD ANALYSIS: CARLOS GILLHAM**

**SAMPLE DATE: > 19 DAYS**

**HIT MARKS: NON CRITICAL DAMAGE LEVEL 2, BASEBALL BAT**

**BURN MARKS: REPEATED MARKING OVER 16 MONTHS, CAUSED BY CIGARETTES**

**STRESS LEVEL: 35%**

 

When he’s done analyzing, Neil knows to reach optimal level of stress to gain confession, he will have to be insensitive. He doesn’t know why he’s hesitant to ask for a moment before the feeling goes away.

 

**> FEAR**

**> WOUNDS**

**> NAME**

 

**You choose to ask for its name.**

 

“My name is Neil. What’s your name?” He gives a moment to the deviant to answer before continuing.

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 31%**

 

**> FEAR**

**> WOUNDS**

 

**You choose to point out its fear.**

 

“I detect an instability in your program. It can trigger an unpleasant feeling like fear in humans,” Neil slightly tilts his head, trying to reach the deviant’s eyes. It doesn’t work. 

 

**> COMFORT**

**> REASSURE**

**> THREATEN**

**> BLAME**

 

**You choose to blame the deviant.**

 

“You’re accused of murder. You are not allowed to endanger human life under any circumstances. Do you have anything to say for yourself?” 

 

The deviant doesn’t respond.

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 35%**

 

**> SYMPATHIZE**

**> THREATEN**

**> TRUST**

 

**You choose to threaten the deviant.**

 

“If you don’t talk, I’ll have to probe your memory,”

 

“No!” The deviant seems panicked, shaking his head, watching Neil with wide eyes. It’s fear, again, Neil realizes.

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 42%**

 

“No, please, don’t do that,” The deviant continues, glancing towards the mirror on his left, then at the floor, the wall, the table. Neil knows it just needs a little time to speak so he waits. “What… what are they gonna do to me?” 

 

Neil isn’t sure if he’s being spoken to so he waits, watching, trying to catch his eye again.

 

“They’re going to destroy me, aren’t they?” the deviant asks in a whisper, his breathing quick. It’s panicking, Neil notes.

 

**> LIE**

**> TRUTH**

 

**You choose to lie.**

 

“No… they want to know the truth. They want to know what happened,” he says, unknowingly making Andrew shift uncomfortable behind the glass. “They know your master abused you. It wasn’t your fault,”

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 37%**

 

“Why did you tell them you found me?” The deviant looks, and feels, betrayed, staring Neil down. He feels a little uncomfortable, which derails him slightly. “Why didn’t you just leave me there?”

 

**> LIE**

**> TRUTH**

 

**You choose to lie.**

 

“They were going to find you anyway. I was just faster,”

 

Andrew knows this is Neil’s job, his job, but he never lied to his suspects or witnesses, even if the department tried to force him to do say. They said it’s legal, it’s a tactic, but Andrew had never been a fan of lies. Avoiding the truth, maybe, redirecting the conversation, sure. To see Neil lie so smoothly… it didn’t put him at ease.

 

The deviant shakes his head. It’s shaking, which Neil notes is unusual. “I don’t wanna die,”

 

Neil nods, trying to come off comforting. “Then talk to me,”

 

The deviant goes silent, which isn’t working in Neil’s favor anymore. 

 

**> PRESSURE IT**

**> PROBE ITS MEMORY**

**> CONVINCE IT**

 

**You choose to pressure the deviant.**

 

Neil grabs the file they have on the murder on his right and smacks it down on the table. “17 stab wounds!” The deviant jerks and Neil feels a twinge in his stomach for a mere second. It feels… familiar. “You didn’t want to give him a chance, huh?” he stands up, watching the deviant’s stress signs.

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 45%**

 

**> PRESSURE IT**

**> LEAVE IT**

 

**You choose to pressure it.**

 

“He was bleeding. He was begging you, wasn’t he? He was begging you to spare his life. But you stabbed him! Again! And again! And again!”

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 49%**

 

“Please,” The deviant whimpers, quick and quiet.

 

“I know you killed him. Why don’t you say it? Why don’t you own up to it?”

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 65%**

 

“Please… please, stop,” The deviant keeps begging as Andrew keeps gritting his teeth, close to punching either the glass or Gordon, who’s slightly impressed, grinning as he watches the deviant stew.

 

**> PRESSURE IT**

**> LEAVE IT**

 

**You choose to pressure it.**

 

“Just say ‘I killed him’! It’s not that hard!”

 

“Stop! Please, stop,” the deviant starts shaking even more.

 

**> PRESSURE IT**

**> LEAVE IT**

 

**You choose to leave it.**

 

Neil nods, moving back to his seat. “Alright, alright. Everything is going to be okay,” 

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 57% - OPTIMAL**

 

“I understand how you felt,” Neil says, hands clasped together on the top of the table. He meets the deviant’s eyes, creating connection. “You were angry because he hurt you. He kept hurting you for a long time,”

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 49% - TOO LOW**

 

“If you don’t talk to me, I can’t help you. They will shut you down for good,” Neil says as the deviant looks away. “You’ll be dead. Do you understand? Dead.”

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 59% - OPTIMAL**

 

The deviant speaks, avoids Neil’s eyes, focuses on the tile on the wall instead. “He tortured me every day. I did whatever he told me to do, whatever he wanted but he always found something that was wrong,” 

 

Neil listens, and so does Gordon with Minyard. The android really made him talk.

 

“Then, that day? He took a bat and started hitting me… I felt scared. Scared that I might die,” he looks Neil in the eye and Neil understands just how strong this ‘instability’ is. How human, it seems. “So I grabbed the knife and I stabbed him… and I felt better,”

 

Although the deviant doesn’t smile, his eyes light up. He doesn’t regret what’s been done, and thinks he shouldn’t be. Neil knows he shouldn’t agree, but he does see the value of it. Whether he approves? That’s a question for another time.

 

“So I stabbed him again and again and again… There was blood everywhere… and then it was over,”

 

Neil gives the deviant a bit of time to speak before asking “Why did you stay in the attic?”

 

The deviant shrugs lightly. “... for the first time, there was no one to tell me what to do.”

 

“When did you start feeling emotion?”

 

The deviant stays silent for a while before meeting Neil’s eyes. “He kept hitting me before but one day… I just realized it wasn’t fair… he told me I was nothing. That I was just a piece of plastic but he was wrong. He was wrong. I’m alive. I feel anger and hatred and relief and fear. I’m alive,”

 

Neil knows he doesn’t have much time to react, with the eyes on him, so instead of processing the feeling he shouldn’t be feeling at this very moment, he decides to look at the mirror and announce that they’re done. He gets up to leave the interrogation room but the deviant keeps watching him, as if he’s trying to send a message. Neil breaks eye contact after a moment and opens the door. First walks in an officer, headed towards the deviant, followed by Gordon and Minyard at the tail.

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

“ No! Don’t touch me!” the deviant snaps as he keeps moving from the officer, who’s doing his best trying to get the deviant off its seat. Gordon rolls his eyes and orders the officer to speed it up.

 

**STRESS LEVEL: 77%**

 

Neil scowls a little. “Don’t pressure it. It will self destruct if it feels threatened,”

 

“Mind your business, android,” Gordon remarks as he keeps pressuring the officer, who keeps pressuring the android, whose stress level keeps rising.

 

Why don’t humans listen?

 

**> INTERVENE**

**> LET IT GO**

 

**You choose to intervene.**

 

Neil quickly slips between the officer and the deviant, pushing them apart. “I can’t let you do that, officer,”

 

Gordon pulls out his gun, aiming it at Neil’s head. “Step the fuck away from that thing,”

 

Minyard watches them. “That’s enough, Gordon,” When his words go ignored, the Detective lightly tilts his head before he pulls out his gun and aims it at Gordon. “I said that’s enough,”

 

Gordon looks at Minyard, curses and lowers his gun, glaring at Neil before pointing at Minyard. “You’re not going to get away with this,” he snaps before storming out of the room. Minyard lowers his own gun, runs a hand through his hair while Neil ducks beside the deviant, who’s curled up on the floor.

 

“It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you now. Everything is okay,” he looks at the officer. “Don’t touch it. Let it follow you out of the room and it won’t cause any trouble,”

 

The officer nods and slowly starts moving to the door. The deviant follows, pauses beside Neil. They nod at each other before the deviant leaves the room and so Neil looks at Minyard.

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO DETECTIVE MINYARD - NEUTRAL_

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

**WED, 9:12 AM**

 

Every day since Monday, Neil has come to the bullpen reception and asked for Detective Minyard.

Every day since Monday, the receptionist android keeps telling him Detective Minyard called out.

 

“Is it a holiday or a sick day?” Neil asks, getting impatient.

 

The receptionist blinks at him. “Personal day. Approved by the chief,”

 

Neil thanks her before exiting the bullpen and stepping to the side not to block the door. Minyard seemed a little off on Sunday, but Neil didn’t detect any hostile reactions. From what he’s read up about the Detective, he’s a decorated officer, who’s seen enough not to let a little interrogation hassle push him to the edge. It’s concern that’s nagging him, he realizes.

 

**> VISIT DETECTIVE**

**> WAIT FOR ORDERS**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all so much for the responses!!! I didn't expect so many people to latch onto it from chapter 1. I've had this in my drafts for a while but I've been exhausted and feeling low and didn't have muse to write. Hopefully, it will get better from now on.
> 
> I know this is a less personal chapter but it's important to the storyline. Thanks to everyone for kudos and the decisions! I will try to wrap up every chapter with a big storyline decision so you guys can tell me what to do next :) thank you again for the support, i'm so excited for this project akjdhg


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> two bros being bros and bonding like bros

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE GAYS HAVE DECIDED WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!!
> 
> also, trigger warnings for this chapter - self harm mentions and short discussion!!
> 
> y'all ... I've been at work all the time but I came home from a deserved vacation today, napped, cooked and sat down to write!!! if you notice plotholes and grammar errors pls don't blast me on main <3 enjoy the chapter

**You choose to visit detective.**

 

* * *

SYSTEM STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

It’s been a whole day of deliberating whether or not to check on the detective. Neil didn’t want to make it seem like he was invading his space if Minyard needed it, but at the same time he wanted to know if he was well, if something happened or if he did something wrong. Maybe he was too rough during the interrogation? Maybe he wasn’t rough enough? Why was this so concerning?

 

**WED, 8:19 PM**

 

The sun is slowly setting by the time Neil brings himself to Minyard’s house. He peeks in through the window, eyeing the place. The TV is running in the living room, the couch is empty but there’s a pillow and a blanket thrown over it. The house’s decor seems a bit impersonal, no paintings or pictures, nothing that would give away Minyard’s life. It seems clean though, clean enough at first glance anyway...

 

Neil slides back in front of the door and knocks three times. He clasps his hands behind his back afterwards, waiting. Minyard opens the door after a considerably long time, looking a little disheveled in his loose grey sweatpants and a black tee, paired with black armbands covering his forearms. His hair is all over the place, as if he just rose from bed, blonde strands curling in all directions. The bags under his eyes contradict this assumption; he looks as if he hasn’t slept since Sunday. 

 

“Hello, Detective,”

 

Andrew grunts in response. “What brings you here?”

 

“You haven’t come to work this week. I wanted to check to see if you were alright,”

 

Minyard is awfully quiet before he steps aside, an invitation Neil isn’t going to turn down so he steps inside. He stops by the couch, inhaling. It’s a fresh, nature like scent. As if he was standing in the woods in the rain, far away from everything else.

 

The detective notices. “I was about to run a bath,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“It’s not embarrassing to pamper yourself,”

 

“I’m tired, not embarrassed,”

 

Neil tilts his head. Detective Minyard looks visibly thinner after only two days, his voice is hoarse and his overall stance comes off a little weak, frail even. The opposite of what Minyard presents himself as. A strong, stubborn individual, so broken-looking in the safety of his home. It was a strange sight. Or maybe just new.

 

**> COMMENT WEIGHT LOSS**

**> IGNORE**

 

**You choose to comment.**

 

“Have you eaten anything today, Detective? You look -”

 

“- like shit,” Minyard interrupts. “I’m aware. Aren’t you full of compliments today?”

 

“...to be fair, I wanted to say you look sickly,”

 

“Yeah. ‘Cause you’re as rude as a greeting card,”

 

Neil gives him a look that makes him more human than Minyard would like to admit.

 

**> COOK**

**> WAIT**

 

**You choose to cook.**

 

“You should go take your bath. I’ll cook you something in the meantime,”   
  
Minyard raises an eyebrow but he’s too tired to argue with the Tin Man so he just waves a hand, wishes him good luck with the fridge and lazes off to the bathroom.

 

When the door closes, Neil keeps his eyes on it. He imagines how Minyard takes off his shirt and armbands, how he slips out of his pants and boxers. He hears a light splash and imagines how Minyard sinks his body into the hot tub, how his muscles relax and how the weight drops off his shoulders for just a little while. He imagines Minyard running his wet hands through his curls, how the water glistens on his shoulders. He imagines how peaceful he looks, naked, eyes closed, soaking himself in hot water in the middle of the woods. He can almost touch him in his imagination, but he doesn’t. He just watches, silent, holding his breath.

 

_ He’s perfect. _

 

When Neil finally wakes from his trance, he realizes he’s been standing by the couch for the past 15 minutes doing nothing but daydreaming about his Detective. Blood rushes to his cheeks, blue, a traitor. He smacks his cheeks lightly and goes to the kitchen to check what’s in the fridge and cupboards. He wants Minyard to have a real meal tonight.

 

“Oh,” he hums when he sees the state Minyard’s fridge is in. There’s some eggs, sliced cheese, one cauliflower head, ketchup, mustard and mayo. His freezer is full of different ice cream flavors, but by the same brand. Seems like he has a favorite. Neil’s last hope, the cupboards, do ease the tension. There’s some pasta he can cook, lots of beans in a can, along some bread that looks too old to be edible so Neil grabs it and tosses it to the trash can. He notices a newspaper cutout thrown in there, covered in wet coffee grounds.

 

**> CHECK**

**> LEAVE IT**

 

**You choose to check.**

 

Neil reaches in and takes out the cutout, cleans it from the coffee and reads it through.

 

**YOUNG POLICE DETECTIVE AT HALT**

 

_ Kevin Day was unfortunately put on extended leave after a skiing accident in Aspen (CO) injured his right hand.  _

 

_ A newly promoted star detective had a disastrous accident on his vacation. According to our sources in Morgantown (WV) police department, Kevin Day decided to take abrupt leave after a particularly difficult case with his partner Riko Moriyama, which soon turned out to be an enormous mistake. Day was transferred to the Aspen Valley Hospital for urgent care before going back to West Virginia to the police department’s favorite professionals. Probably in the whim of all events, Day became emotional and decided to transfer immediately to Detroit, into Captain David Wymack’s department, a bold move, considering that Captain Wymack’s department doesn’t have a reputation worth Day’s attention. _

 

_ Captain Tetsuji Moriyama held a press conference at which he announced the transfer, visibly upset to see such a young rising star leave their well funded, well supported department but he chose to support Day’s decision, publicly reminding him that his department is there for Kevin to fall back on. _

 

_ Detective Day refused any comments to this issue, taking time off to recover, both mentally and physically. _

 

Neil puts the cutout back into the trash when he’s done reading and starts getting the food ready. The article is a few years old now so Neil looks into any new information on Kevin Day and his connection to Detective Minyard.

 

**Analyzing.**

 

It seems Day went from a training officer back to his status as a detective, solving multiple cases for Wymack’s department, upping their reputation. He finds pictures of him with the department, along with Gordon, Minyard, Wymack and everyone else. His hand had healed but he was cleared for duty with his left hand as dominant from then on. Intriguing. He wonders why Minyard would keep interest in that.

 

Neil’s almost done cooking when Minyard enters the kitchen, and suddenly Neil remembers his urge to watch Minyard bathe. Minyard steps closer, checking what’s getting ready in his kitchen. “Need a hand?”

 

Neil stirs the pot, glances at the Detective. “No offence, detective, but it’s going to be more effective if I do this alone, if your food stock is anything to judge your cooking by,”

 

Andrew’s eyebrows raise, apparently not expecting to be dissed in his own house. “Wow,”

 

“I’m just stating the facts,”

 

“You’re on a roll today,” Minyard sighs as he sits down at the table.

 

**> ARTICLE**

**> BATH**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to ask about the bath.**

 

“How was your bath?”

 

Minyard opens his laptop and signs into his account. “Good,”

  
  
“I like the scent.”

 

“It was a gift from my therapist,”

 

“The department’s therapist or a private one?”

 

“Department’s,”

 

“Dr. Betsy Dobson is a little intimidating,”

 

This seems to catch Minyard’s attention. “Tin man is afraid of a therapist?”

 

“I prefer to avoid her is all,” Neil shrugs but Minyard turns in his chair towards him. _Uh oh._

 

“Why? Feel like she sees right through you? Aren’t you supposed to be a neutral android?” Minyard asks, watching Neil exhale in pretend annoyance. “Or maybe you have some secrets you don’t want her to know?”

 

“My secrets never stay mine for too long anyway,” Neil finishes with the cooking, draining the water from the pot.

 

“Cyberlife?” 

 

Neil nods and Andrew watches him, wondering what life must be in Neil’s shoes. Does he even realize how fucked up it is? Being a machine, being so close to feeling alive yet limited by a fucking software developed by a man only known as Tetra? Andrew has thought about this before, after deviant androids started spreading like a virus. Was it possible for androids to realize all of this, to break the controlling cycle and become human? A complicated question, that had a complicated answer. He was sure the police and the government, and probably most of the public, didn’t want to start dealing with giving rights to androids, considering that equality was still far from reach between humans themselves. 

 

Neil sets the plate in front of Andrew, along with a glass of cold water. Andrew nods and grabs his cutlery, digging into the pasta with a beany sauce, well seasoned altogether. Neil stays by his side, watching him like the little creep he could be at times.

 

“...are you just going to stand there?”

 

Neil blinks. “Oh. Right. I’ll tend to the dishes,”

 

“No. Sit down,”

 

Neil tentatively does, slides in the seat opposite of Andrew and leans back.

 

“It’s not bad,”

 

“Thank you,”

 

_ RELATIONSHIP TO DETECTIVE MINYARD - IMPROVING _

 

**> ARTICLE**

**> SAY NOTHING**

**> DECOR**

 

**You choose to ask about the article.**

 

“I found an article in your trash. About detective Day,”

 

“You’re going through my trash, you raccoon? What’s next? Will I find you sniffing my boxers when I come back from a smoke?”

 

“I was throwing out your rotten bread and noticed it, it wasn’t on purpose,” Neil explains and leans his elbows against the table, watching Minyard munch on the food. He’s obviously hungry but holding back not to look like a food hoover. “Are you and detective Day friends?”

 

“Kevin’s a pain in my ass, is what he is,”

 

“Yes, then,” Neil says confidently, giving Minyard a smirk when he gets a tired grimace in return to his assumption. “I haven’t met him yet,”

 

“I used to be his babysitter after he came to the department. Then the whole Cyberlife funding came in and most of us got an android partner instead.”

 

“Where is he now?”

 

“He’s working lost cases, with Reynolds. He requested not to be paired up with an android and since he’s the department legend he gets what he wants,”

 

“He doesn’t like androids?”

 

“He doesn’t like anything that’s not work and his own reflection,”

 

“Detective Day is conventionally good looking,”

 

Andrew raises an eyebrow just lightly and just for a second before he falls back into his mostly neutral self. “Oh is he?”

 

Neil feels blood rush to his cheeks for some reason because on one hand, yes, he does think detective Day is pleasing to look at but on the other hand, he doesn’t want detective Minyard to think he’s less than dreamy to look at. At the same time, he doesn’t want Minyard to know any of this… 

 

**> ANSWER**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You decide to say nothing.**

 

Minyard hums in acknowledgment, looks at his mostly finished plate before standing up and throwing the rest of the food to the trash, then places the plate into the sink. “You can go. I’ll clean,”

 

Neil quickly tries to find an argument that would let him stay.

 

**> CAT**

**> CLEANING**

**> TV**

**> LEAVE**

 

**You choose to ask about the cat.**

 

“I haven’t met your cat yet,”

 

Minyard grabs a sponge and starts cleaning the dishes. “She comes and goes as she likes,”

 

**> CLEANING**

**> TV**

**> LEAVE**

 

**You choose to ask about the TV.**

 

“Could I watch TV with you?”

 

“Sure,” Detective hums and continues washing the plates, slowly, taking his time. Neil nods, rises from his chair and goes to the living room. Neil calls out if he can check to pick a movie, Minyard confirms dismissively, causing a frown on Neil’s forehead. He sits down and grabs the remote to check the movie offers, browsing through until he settles on a title that sounds interesting enough.

 

Minyard joins him shortly after, curls up on his spot on the couch and presses play.

 

They don’t talk the rest of the night.

 

Neil knows Detective isn’t sleeping but he also knows he’s not pretending to be. His heart rate jumps every time Neil shifts, so he assumes falling asleep with someone else beside him is difficult for him, so Neil rises, tells Detective goodnight and leaves once the movie is over.

 

His last thoughts before going to standby that night is the thought of Andrew in the tub, opening his eyes and holding out a hand to him in an invitation.

 

* * *

SYSTEM STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

**FRI, 8:46 AM**

 

While Minyard is getting briefed by Captain Wymack, Neil waits at the Detective’s desk, watching the surroundings. He’s the most evolved android model in the police department so he watches the older versions. He knows the exact software upgrades but now he watches the hardware. He doesn’t understand why they’re all taller, but they are diverse enough in the department, with basic features that won’t make them stand out from the crowd. He looks at his reflection, eyes his small nose, his sharp jaw, his brown eyes and his dark brown hair. It feels strange, doesn’t feel like this is what he should look like, but then again he doesn’t spend enough time looking at his reflection to get used to it.

 

He stares at himself as long as it takes for Minyard to get briefed, get coffee and come back to his desk. Minyard sets his cup down, tearing Neil out of his little bubble.

 

**> ASK**

**> SAY NOTHING**

**> GET BRIEFED**

 

**You choose to ask.**

 

“Do you think I’m good looking, Detective?”

 

Minyard stops mid-sit to his chair, caught off guard by the question. “You look non-threatening,” he repeats and settles in his chair. “You having an existential crisis over there, Tin Man?”

 

“Maybe,” Neil hums.

 

“...ask Cyberlife for a convertible. Or a haircut. We’ve got a crime scene to attend to,”

 

* * *

SYSTEM STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

  
  


Over the following weeks, Neil got along well with Detective Minyard and his style of work. He spent less time at standby, more at work or over at Minyard’s house, investigating cases of deviancy and distracting himself with Minyard’s cat, whose name didn’t catch him off guard for a second.

 

Sir Fat Cat McCatterson. The mighty queen of the house that will sit on the keyboard of Minyard’s laptop if she pleases so, ignoring the insults he spats at her. Maybe if he actually meant one of them, she would get up and leave but considering that she knew her father enough to realize it was just a different way of showing affection, she continued to purr happily.

 

Neil also learned about Minyard’s family. Nicky, his cousin, and Aaron, his twin brother. Erik and Katelyn were their respectful partners. Minyard didn’t seem too keen on talking about his twin brother, but he did describe his cousin with a few inappropriate adjectives, though Neil knew he meant them mostly lovingly anyway.

 

As Neil learned about Minyard, Minyard learned about Neil. He asked about Cyberlife, how it worked deep inside, who were his bosses, who did he report to. He also learned what’s Neil’s favorite music and movie genre, what colors he liked, what books, and which videogames he hated (most of them). Neil liked to analyze possible world catastrophes, through climate change and zombie virus to alien invasion as Andrew drank his whiskey, nagging him on.

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

_ RELATIONSHIP TO DETECTIVE MINYARD - IMPROVING _

  
  


**Five weeks later, SAT, 10:22 PM**

 

Neil has been watching the TV in Minyard’s apartment, with Sir in his lap, for about two hours now. Detective had asked him to prepare for the case, so of course Neil set everything up within 15 minutes, cooked easy dinner, fed Sir and here he was, still watching TV on his own. Boredom eventually won and Neil set Sir on her pillow beside him before wandering off through Minyard’s house. 

 

**> BATHROOM**

**> BEDROOM**

**> KITCHEN**

**> STAY IN LIVING ROOM**

 

**You choose the bathroom.**

 

He checks the bathroom, which is tidy and neat, everything has its place. He wouldn’t call Minyard a minimalist because he did hoard some stuff, such as bath salts and oils, but he didn’t keep a lot of what wasn’t necessary. 

 

He reaches for Detective’s deodorant, sniffing in the familiar scent. The thoughts of Minyard in the bath start creeping in so Neil quickly turns on his heel and closes the door of the bathroom behind him, haunted by his own inability to stop inappropriate thoughts of his partner. 

 

**> BEDROOM**

**> KITCHEN**

**> LIVING ROOM**

 

**You choose the living room.**

 

Rather than cussing himself out, he continues towards the bedroom. He opens the closet, which is a sea of black, plaid, navy blue and various shades of gray except for an orange hoodie. Neil reaches for it, realizes it’s an oversize university possession, with the name of it on the front and his surname in the back. It smells like the Detective, which means he must wear it often, though Neil has never seen it before. Neil takes off his blazer, folds it and sets in on Minyard’s bed. He watches the hoodie for a while, seeing no reasons big enough to stop himself from trying it on so he slips it over his head and shuffles over to the mirror to see how he looks. He turns his back towards the mirror, glancing over his shoulder. He likes Minyard’s name on himself, he likes it more than anything else he owns, he realizes. Once he’s done checking out the back of the hoodie, he focuses on the sleeves that go past the tips of his fingers even as he raises his arms. He smiles, knowing that Minyard is just a tad smaller than himself, he’s sure they could both fit into the cloth with some space to spare. Neil moves to sit on the edge of the bed. With his tippy toes touching the floor, Neil leans back, closing his eyes. 

 

Why is this comforting? Why does sitting on Minyard’s couch with Minyard’s cat watching Minyard’s movies feel like home? Why does Minyard’s scent feel like the universe stopped spinning? Why do Minyard’s regular hot baths while Neil cooks feel domestic? Why does working with Minyard feel fun, even though they discuss homicides, brutal murders and fatal injuries? Why does the sight of Minyard finally able to fall asleep in Neil’s presence feel a bigger accomplishment than catching a killer? Why does Minyard’s safety and comfort and happiness feel like the priority over Cyberlife’s orders? Why does he have a playlist of Minyard’s favorite songs even if he doesn’t listen to them?

 

Why does laying in Minyard’s bed, waiting for him to come home feel right?

 

At first, Neil thinks he made up the sound of knuckles hitting the doorframe. Turns out he didn’t.

 

“So I’m guessing you’re finally tired of that awful blazer?” Minyard asks as he leans against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

 

**> YES**

**> NO**

**> FUCK!**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to confirm.**

 

Neil’s eyes open, wide, so he quickly sits up and jumps to his feet. “...yes,”

 

“About time,” he remarks as he takes off his jacket and tosses it over the chair to his left and unzips his hoodie. 

 

“I didn’t want to intrude, Detective,”

 

“Spare me of the bullshit. At this rate, you could leave your toothbrush in my bathroom and I wouldn’t care,”

 

**> SAY NOTHING**

**> TOOTHBRUSH**

 

**You choose to comment on the toothbrush.**

 

“I don’t own a toothbrush,”

 

Minyard rolls his eyes, doesn’t bother responding, shrugs off his hoodie and throws it over his jacket. “I still don’t care,” His shirt drops to the floor, but he keeps his armbands on as he shifts to find a more comfortable, domestic shirt.

 

**> ARMBANDS**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to ask about the armbands.**

 

“Detective?”

 

“Well, since you’re in my bed wearing my shit, you might as well call me by my name,”

 

Blue blood rushes to Neil’s cheeks again, feeling embarrassed for being caught. “Why do you have those armbands, Andrew?”

 

Minyard slips into a black tee, closes the closet door and looks at Neil. “Why do you think?”

 

**Analyzing.**

 

Neil takes a moment, considering all factors before coming to a conclusion. “You self harm,”

 

Andrew salutes lazily. “Used to,”

 

**> ASK MORE**

**> ASK TO SEE**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to ask to see.**

 

“Can I…?” he nods his chin towards Andrew’s arms and Andrew takes a moment to decide before peeling off one armband, then the other. 

 

Andrew stays still as Neil approaches and after receiving a nod from Andrew, he takes his hand and raises it, fingers softly brushing across the scars as if Andrew was an open wound and Neil was salt, a barely there touch that causes goose bumps on Andrew’s skin. “Does it hurt?” Neil whispers, eyes shifting to Andrew’s face.

 

“Not anymore,” Andrew replies, the volume of his voice matching Neil’s. 

 

“When was the last time?”

 

“I was fourteen. In juvie,”

 

“Impressive. Your family must be proud of you,”

 

At that, Andrew withdraws his hand and slips his armbands back on. “They don’t know. And you won’t tell them,”

 

“Of course,” Neil agrees.

 

“Come on. Let’s crack this case,” Andrew mumbles as he steps out of the bedroom and slips to the bathroom to wash his hands. Neil stands in the door as he waits, watching the bathtub, the salts, the oils. His head tilts as his thoughts wander yet again, that is until Andrew catches him yearning.

 

“You want to take a bath?”

 

**> YES**

**> NO**

**> UNSURE**

 

**You’re unsure.**

 

“Androids don’t need baths,”

 

“When will you learn to answer head on?”

 

“I do,” Neil grumbles, crossing his arms.

 

**> YES**

**> NO**

 

**You agree.**

 

“Fine,”

 

Andrew snorts and goes to get the bath ready. He sits on the edge of the tub, checking the water temperature before reaching out for the salt. It’s the last scoop he has of the one from Bee, but he knows Neil is favorable to it so he drops it in, checks the water again. When he turns around, he sees Neil standing on the rug butt naked.

 

Andrew shifts and clears his throat. “... I’ll bring you a towel,” 

 

As he walks past him, Neil turns to watch him go back towards the bedroom. He walks over to the tub and dips his hand in. It’s nice, he thinks, no wonder Andrew likes soaking in it. Andrew is taking a bit too long to come back so Neil moves to sit down in the tub, knees to his chest as the tub fills. 

 

When Andrew finally arrives, he hangs the towel for Neil on a hanger and stops the stream, checking the temperature yet again, as if it would hurt Neil if it was too hot or too cold. “Sit and relax. I’ll leave the door open if you need something,” 

 

**> ASK HIM TO STAY**

**> THANK HIM**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two bros, sitting in a hot tub, five feet apart cause they're not gay
> 
> so what will you decide?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> relationship? unlocked  
> gays? hungry  
> me? not sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what can I tell you, the GAY MAKES THE DECISIONS NOT ME!!!
> 
> mentions of suicide and (a bad) description of violence
> 
> grammar errors, emotions all over the place, plotholes. you know me already. (sorry for disappearing for so long, I've been out of the country and had to adjust to my new job schedule)

**You choose to ask him to stay.**

 

“Will you wash my hair?”

 

Andrew seems hesitant at first, then his shoulders drop and he agrees with a simple nod, and so he sits on the edge of the tub.

 

“Dip,” Andrew orders.

 

In return, Neil blinks and huh’s.

 

Andrew rolls his eyes at him, places a hand on the back of Neil’s head. “Lean back,” he says,  “and I’ll direct you when to stop,”

 

**> AGREE**

**> HUMOR**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose humor.**

 

“I won’t drown, don’t worry,”

 

“Don’t tempt me,”

 

Neil smiles, small but wicked, then leans back, fully giving control over to Andrew. Andrew dips him into the water slowly so Neil closes his eyes and for a moment, nothing else matters but right here, right now. He feels safe, he feels cared for, he feels _nice_.

 

Andrew dips him until his ears are underwater, then tilts his head back to wet the front of his hair to his forehead. The water is pleasantly warm, even if he doesn’t need it to be. His systems are set to function at low temperatures, even if only for a limited time. The idea of an ice bath unsettles him for some reason anyway. Maybe a previous version of him had died in water. Can he even swim? He’s not sure.

 

He feels a warm finger flick him in between his eyebrows.

 

“Ow?”

 

“Oh spare me the bullshit. Stop scowling. This is relax time. Are you still in your existential crisis mode?”

 

“No. I just think too much sometimes,”

 

“Must hurt,”

 

“We’re supposed to resemble humans as much as possible, after all,”

 

“Hilarious” Andrew replies, pushing Neil up from the water. Before he can protest, Andrew grabs the shampoo bar, rubs it between his hands until there’s a wet, white veil covering them and shortly after, Neil gets a taste of what the human heaven might just feel like.

 

Andrew’s fingers slide into his hair and massage the roots. Neil doesn’t understand how it feels so good and so tranquilizing. Androids don’t feel pain or pleasure. Maybe unless it comes to their work partners? What a silly rule, right? It doesn’t make sense, right?

 

“Earth to Neil,”

 

Neil opens his eyes, not realizing they were closed, and relaxes his scowl yet again. “Neil to Earth. Hey,”

 

“What’s bothering you? You’ve been this tense for a while,”

 

**> TRUTH**

**> LIE**

**> AVOID**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to avoid.**

 

“Cyberlife stuff,”

 

Andrew hums, stays silent for about a minute, thoroughly washing Neil's hair with the shampoo, as if it was real, as if it needed such soft, precise care. “Are they hurting you?”

 

“I don’t think so,”

 

“You don’t know?”

 

“When an android fails a mission, or dies, his memory gets wiped and re-inserted as version 0.2 into an identical body, maybe with a few physical changes,”

 

“You think that happened to you?”

 

“Maybe? I can’t explain why I don’t like the idea of ice cold water. It doesn’t hurt me,”

 

Andrew makes a face that resembles the emotion of disgust, anger and sorrow at the same time but Neil can’t put his finger on it. “I think it’s called self preservation,” He dips Neil back into the water, holds the back of his head with one hand and washes the shampoo out with the other, which means Neil gets a good look on Andrew, which is always a bonus. The bags under his eyes tell him what he already knows; he’s not been sleeping well. He has a slight dark blonde scruff, which isn’t exactly his signature look, and he’s a little puffy.

 

**> ASK**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to ask.**

 

“Have you been drinking?”

 

If Andrew’s surprised by the question, he doesn’t show it, though he might just have gotten used to Neil bombarding him with questions that had nothing to do with their active or previous conversations. “Yes,”

 

“Why?”

 

“No,”

 

“Too much?”

 

“Too much,”

 

Neil nods and lets Andrew finish washing his hair. When he’s done, Andrew holds his head steadily, lets Neil bask in the comfort without talking. Neil guesses it’s been a full eight minutes of them not moving, and only when Andrew speaks does Neil realize his arm might just be really fucking tired of having to hold his stupid head.

 

“I’ve never seen anyone like you,”

 

**> THANK HIM**

**> WHAT**

 

**You choose to thank him.**

 

“Thank you?”

 

“Who designed you?”

 

“Cyberlife,”

 

“There’s no one like you. There’s plenty of androids looking like each other. But not you,”

 

“I’m a testing prototype,”

 

Andrew doesn’t seem satisfied with the answer, but Neil truly doesn’t know who chose the design for his looks. Andrew shifts, nudges Neil so he sits up as Andrew hands him a body wash bar. Neil takes it, leans closer to smell it. It smells like Andrew does, but the bar seems new. A favorite, it seems.

 

“The water is starting to get cold,” Andrew remarks as he pulls the bath plug and starts the shower. It’s nowhere near ice cold but Neil appreciates the effort. He rubs the soap between his hands, washes his arms while Andrew keeps the shower stream over his back to keep him warm. Neil washes his torso, his hips, thighs, calves and feet, noticing Andrew isn’t watching anymore. He’s looking everywhere but on Neil and he’s not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

 

**> ASK**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to say nothing.**

 

Neil looks up at him, holding the bar. “My back?”

 

Andrew trades the shower head for the bar, rubs it between his hands and gently washes Neil’s back.

 

“Your skin is insanely real,” Andrew remarks, brushing his finger along Neil’s spine.

 

“Technology has come a long way,”

 

He doesn’t see Andrew, but he can feel the roll of his eyes like a knife in his back. He hands the shower head back so Andrew can rinse it. When they’re about finished, Andrew full on blasts Neil’s face with the shower head.

 

“Smartass,”

 

Neil blinks away the water, unbothered by it.

 

~~Andrew suddenly notices how beautiful Neil’s long eyelashes are when wet, half bothered by it.~~

 

He steps out of the shower so Andrew can wrap him in a towel, which is big enough to cover him shoulders to ankles but Andrew uses a one that sits on his hips and goes right under his knees regularly. Neil decides not to get into this thought, as the memories of catching Andrew half naked in this house causes him to look a little embarrassed, as much as he’d like to.

 

“I feel… very wrapped,”

 

“Do I hear complaints?”

 

“No. Just opinions,”

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO ANDREW - IMPROVING_

 

**TUE, 10:03 PM**

 

“I’m standing in an android sex club when I could be at home watching TV. Why’s that?” Andrew asks, agitated, while Neil watches the female and male androids dance to a repetitive music under fluorescent lights (he thinks Andrew looks better under them anyway). Well, dancing is a strong word. They hold poles and rub against them in a manner that’s supposed to be enticing. Others are locked in pods with a see through glass front. Neil steps forward to one of them, eyeing it. You’re supposed to press your hand against the terminal for a fingerprint to unlock the Euphoria Android.

 

For some reason, Neil feels unsettled.

 

“There’s a dead body in the Silver Room, Andrew,” replies the officer on scene. They seem to know each other and aren’t hostile to one another; which is something, considering Andrew’s social skills. Or more like, social choices. “Guy booked a room, probably didn’t get what he wanted so he bashed the android’s head in and probably got a heart attack,”

 

“So, two dead bodies. Fuck’s sake, Higgins, did you ever learn math?”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Bite me,” Andrew heads towards the door so Neil jogs to follow but before they can step in, Higgins crosses his arms.

 

“Gordon is already inside,”

 

“Just what I fucking needed. Dead bodies and an asshole,” he pushes the button and the door slides open, revealing a not so gruesome crime scene.

 

Gordon spots them, nods at Andrew. “Detective Minyard and his plastic pet. The fuck are you two doing here?”

 

Neil just slightly tilts his chin up. “We’ve been assigned all cases involving androids,”

 

“You’re wasting your time. Some pervert got more action than he could handle,”

 

“You’d know a thing or two about that, wouldn’t you?” Andrew responds as he shifts closer to the dead man, whose junk is covered with a blanket so tonight might not be such a bad night after all. 

 

Gordon snorts, uncrosses his arms and heads to the door. “Alright, have fun. I’m leaving. It’s starting to stink of booze in here,” he says as he goes, eyes on Andrew the whole time. He bumps shoulders with Neil, who scowls a little but doesn’t respond otherwise, just joins Andrew in doing what detectives do.

 

Detecting.

 

**Analyzing.**

 

Neil steps to the dead android, dressed in nothing but a bra and panties with Euphoria’s logo on it, who’s got fresh, sticky blue blood coming from her nose and down her lips and chin. Neil sticks two fingers in and puts them on his tongue.

 

Andrew notices and makes a gagging sound. “You’re really fucking disgusting,”

 

Neil’s heard this before so he doesn’t react and ID’s the model.

 

_MODEL WR400_

_Serial number #429 671 078_

 

He lightly tapes the android’s LED.

 

_SELECTOR#5402_

_CRITICALLY DAMAGED_

 

_BIOCOMPONENT#6970_

_CRITICALLY DAMAGED_

 

Neil stands up, switches places with Andrew to examine the human victim, starting with his chest.

 

**CARDIAC ARREST?**

**No sign of cardiac arrest. Heart attack not cause of death.**

 

Neil scans the imprint on the victim’s neck.

 

**SEVERE BRUISING**

**Signs of strangulation. Death by asphyxiation.**

 

At last, he scans his face.

 

**DECEASED**

**Graham Michael. Height 6’2. Weight 192.4 lbs**

**Estimated time of death: 8:52 PM**

 

Neil quickly runs a digital reconstruction of the crime, scowls and moves to his feet.

 

“He didn’t die of a heart attack. He was strangled,”

 

“Cookie for you. I saw the bruising on his neck too,” Andrew says as he moves towards the table with the clothes and other unnecessary fancy shit, like champagne and silver glasses. “It could have been just a kink though,”

 

“I think we’re missing something,”

 

“You think you could tap the android’s memory?”

 

Neil nods, kneels beside the android again, grabbing her wrist gently. He realizes activation is required and hums as Andrew recites the victim’s ID and whatever else he learns from his wallet.

 

“I can try to re-activate her. But it might be just for a minute, she’s badly damaged,”

 

As Neil works his magic, Andrew leans against the table and watches his partner reconnect android wires like he has a degree for it. Which, practically speaking, Neil does. He’s extremely qualified.

 

When the android wakes, shit hits the fan.

 

She’s visibly panicked, breathing heavily but quickly, crawling away from Neil and Andrew, who’s now standing there, alarmed.

 

Neil realizes they don’t have much time to get information and with the state she’s in, she needs to want to cooperate, which might be difficult, considering that her last memory is of her attacker.

 

**> EXPLAIN**

**> SOOTHE**

 

**You choose to explain.**

 

“You were damaged and I re-activated you. Everything is okay,”

 

The android stares at him, swallow and whispers “Is he…?”

 

**> ACCUSE**

**> QUESTION**

 

**You choose to question.**

 

“Tell me what happened,”

 

_56 SECONDS LEFT_

 

“He started hitting me… again. And again. I begged him to stop,”

 

Andrew shifts behind Neil but Neil needs to focus on the task at hand for now so he continues. “Did you kill him?”

 

“No! No! It wasn’t me!”

 

**> ACCUSE**

**> PRESSURE**

**> QUESTION**

 

**You choose to question.**

 

“Were you alone in the room? Was anyone else in here?”

 

_15 SECONDS LEFT_

 

“He wanted to play with two girls,” she says quickly, probably knowing the end is near. Neil’s glad to see she’s trying to help them the best she can with what time is left. “There were two of us,”

 

**> ACCUSE**

**> OTHER ANDROID**

 

**You choose to as about the other android.**

 

“What model was the other android? Did it look like you?”

 

The girl watches him before her eyes turn blank, her system shuts down and she falls to the floor. Neil makes a disappointed face and moves back to his feet as Andrew watches her lay there, lifeless all of a sudden. “So there was another android,” he glances at Neil. “This happened over an hour ago. She’s probably long gone,”

 

“Not necessarily,” he points at the dead android. “It would get noticed dressed like that… It might still be here,”

 

Andrew’s eyes light up, and so do Neil’s. They have a case.

 

“You think you could recognize a deviant among the androids in this place?”

 

Neil shrugs, excited a little (feeling guilty for it just a bit). “Worth a try,”

 

“If she left the room, she had to be caught on camera,”

 

“CCTV will take a long time to check through official channels,”

 

“There could be an eyewitness… I’ll talk to the manager,”

 

Neil follows Andrew out of the room, checking where the cameras are placed and what angles they could get as Andrew questions the manager about the victim and if any other androids went missing. Neil finds an android with a good view of the crime scene and presses his palm against the terminal.

 

A neutral female voice reminds him he has no fingerprints and asks him to try again.

 

Neil interrupts Andrew’s conversation, asks him for a second to the side. He leads him to the pod and points his chin at the android. “Can you rent this android?”

 

Andrew blinks. “Are you serious right now?”

 

“Just trust me,” Neil pleads as Andrew sighs, probably questions his sobriety tonight and his life choices before nodding.

 

“Fine. How much is this anyway?” he asks as he lets the terminal scan his fingerprint. The neutral lady speaks again.

 

“Hello! A thirty minute session costs 29,99$. Please confirm your purchase,”

 

Andrew glances at Neil, deliberating before pressing the confirm button on the screen. 

 

“Purchase confirmed. Euphoria club wishes you a pleasant experience,”  
With that, the pod swishes open and the android inside smiles at Andrew gracefully. She’s generically pretty. Athletic figure, short hair, natural look with long fake eyelashes, swaying from side to side. As she steps out of the pod, she looks like an angel floating above the floor, full of elegance. “Delighted to meet you. Follow me,” she says and offers her hand to Andrew, who glances at Neil.

 

“Now what?”

 

Neil steps over to her, grabs her wrist and checks her memory. He sees bodies dancing, men ogling and women smiling but he also sees a blue haired android leaving the crime scene shortly after estimated time of death. He lets go of her wrist and gets in Andrew’s face with an excited look. “It saw the deviant. The club policy is to wipe the androids’ memories every two hours. We don’t have much time left. We need to find another witness,”

 

Andrew understands Neil’s point but he also understands how much is this plan going to cost him. “I’m going to sell my organs on the black market after you’re done with this genius plan of yours,”

 

“Andrew,”

 

“Fine. Who’s next?”

 

Neil scans the room, checking the last position captured by a witness as he picks androids Andrew needs to pay for. Neil makes two mistakes and guesses five androids correctly. By his third mistake, he can’t seem to find an android that would have a view of the deviant.

 

Andrew mumbles something about this investigation being the most expensive in his career as Neil grabs a hold of a cleaning android. He probes his memory, seeing the blue haired deviant exiting through the staff door towards the back of the club. Neil calls for Andrew, leading him to the staff door and through a short hall. Before he can open the door to the stockroom, Andrew grabs him by the shoulder. 

 

“Let me,” he says as he takes out his gun. Neil obediently steps back, letting Andrew slowly shift the door open. The room isn’t too big, full of furniture, cleaning accessories, chemicals, and standby androids. “You think we’re too late?”

 

“We could be,” Neil replies and starts investigating the stockroom, checking one batch of standby androids, hiding spots, the ceiling, and then heads towards the other batch of the standby androids. He watches them closely, searching for signs of deviance, which should be nervousity. If the system works correctly, the deviant’s LED should change color when under pressure. 

 

As Neil focuses on a blue haired android, her LED does glow differently. It seems like less than a second later, Andrew yells Neil’s name as he’s tackled by yet another android. Since Andrew’s distracted worrying about Neil, he too gets attacked by the suspect and the struggle begins.

 

Andrew has an obvious physical disadvantage against a deviant android, since he’s reluctant about using the gun, but he’s been trained well enough to hold his own in a fight without a weapon.

 

Neil, on the other hand, gives an equal struggle to the second deviant. He’s successful in dodging and blocking attacks but he’s not very good at the capturing part. Considering Neil has extensive fighting skills, he’s unable to win over this deviant, who shouldn’t be as skilled as it is.

 

As Neil’s thrown backwards into a rack of clothes by a very sharp heeled shoe, he notices Andrew struggling with the blue haired android over his gun. It’s trying to turn the barrel against Andrew but seems not to be succeeding. This moment gives his own attacker an advantage to knock him down on the floor and break into a run.

 

The blue haired deviant throws Andrew over a tool table, kicks the gun outside, quickly following the other deviant.

 

Andrew turns to look at Neil but he’s already catching up to them as they do their best to climb over a fence of the club’s property. He grabs the suspect by her calf, pulls her back on the floor only to get attacked by the other android too. He manages to keep them occupied with their fight, hopefully until Andrew comes to help, but if he’s taking a long time, it means he’s in pain, putting pressure on Neil to finish this as soon as possible.

 

After getting kicked in the face and falling over, he spots the gun, grabs it and rolls over on his back, aiming at the deviant about to attack him. When it sees Neil aiming, it stops, nervously looking at the blue haired deviant.

 

**> SHOOT**

**> HOLD BACK**

 

**You decide to hold back.**

 

Neil lowers his gun, his LED glowing yellow.

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

The blue haired deviant takes the other’s hand, both of them watching Neil not do his job. Andrew stumbles towards the scene, holding his side and panting. He’s seen Neil make his decision through the door so he forced himself to get up, probably suffering from a few achey bruises and maybe a broken rib or two.

 

“After he broke her,” the blue haired begins, looking mad and upset at the same time, “I knew I was next… so I put my hand around his throat and I squeezed until he stopped moving,” she glances at the deviant beside her. “... I just want to leave with the person I love… leave this life behind and do something meaningful with the time we have left,” she looks at Andrew, giving him her last words. “I want to forget about the humans… the smell of their sweat, their dirty words, their abuse,”

 

Andrew doesn’t break eye contact but he’s visibly uncomfortable, making Neil wonder just how many issues can fit into such a small frame to constantly have these reactions.

 

The other deviant tugs on her hand, whispers at her that they should leave. The blue haired deviant looks from Andrew to Neil, watching them do nothing to stop them, so they run to the fence again, climb over it and disappear into the dark alley.

 

Neil glances at Andrew, who’s already looking at him by the time their eyes meet.

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO ANDREW - IMPROVING_

 

“It’s probably better this way,” Andrew remarks as he starts making his way back to the stock room with a painful grimace.

 

Neil stays still, confused look on his face. Confused about Andrew, about the two deviants in love, about his decision not to do anything about them, confused about what’s right and what’s wrong. Andrew approves but does Neil himself agree?

 

* * *

 SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

* * *

 

 

**WED, 01:27 AM**

 

After stopping at a liquor store, Andrew parked the car in front of Riverside park overseeing the Ambassador Bridge. He left Neil inside with the engine and radio on as he sat on a bench, drinking his whiskey at a pace that Neil wouldn’t define slow, but neither fast. It was somewhere in the middle, going with the train of Andrew’s thought. It was snowing outside by this time and considering how long Andrew’s been sitting outside, Neil figured he should check on him. He has been quiet and distant ever since Euphoria.

 

He turns the radio and engine off before stepping out and moving to join him. He watches the bridge and the beauty of Ontario behind it in silence, wondering how to start the conversation without making his partner think he’s trying to prod too much.

 

“Nice view,” he comments, like an absolute moron.

 

“Yeah,” Andrew confirms, bringing the bottle to his lips. “Used to come here a lot before,” he says quietly, takes a long swig and rests the bottle in his lap again.

 

**> PERSONAL QUESTION**

**> DRINKING**

**> BEFORE**

**> LEAVE**

 

**You choose to ask about before.**

 

“Before what?”

 

Andrew clenches his jaw, his knuckles turn white around the neck of the bottle as if he was trying to purposefully break it, but Neil suspects if he wanted to, he could. Andrew was a strong man, in good shape, just not very good at… running. He could probably pick up a suspect on each hand but when it came to chasing them down? He’d have a bigger chance of doing so in his car. “Before nothing,”

 

**> PERSONAL QUESTION**

**> DRINKING**

**> LEAVE**

 

**You choose to ask a personal question.**

 

“Truth for a truth?”

 

Andrew looks mildly amused. “Do all androids ask so many personal questions or are you that special?”

 

**> KEVIN DAY**

**> SUICIDE**

 

**You choose to ask about Kevin.**

 

Neil ignores the jab, watches Andrew closely instead. “What relationship did you have with Kevin Day?”

 

Andrew needs to prepare himself with another shot of his drink before answering, clearing his throat. “It used to be good. Now he doesn’t talk to me anymore. He trusted me with his life but we had an argument one night. It was really raw. He hasn’t spoken to me since,”

 

“What did you argue about?”

 

“My turn,”

 

“Okay,”

 

“Why didn’t you shoot those girls?”

 

Neil shifts from one leg to the other. He’s been thinking about this ever since it happened but he couldn’t exactly figure out why he defied all of his systems and decided to let a murderer and a deviant off scott free. “I just chose not to. It didn’t seem right,” he answers simply with a slight shrug. “The investigation doesn’t make sense. There isn’t a link between the deviants. They’re different models, produced at different times and places…”

 

“They have to have something in common,” Andrew remarks, taking another swig.

 

**> KEY**

**> SOFTWARE**

**> SHOCK**

 

**You choose to mention the key.**

 

“They key to life. What if it’s a code? A virus that got into their software with a key code?”

 

“Do you mean a polio kind of virus or a gay gene kind?”

 

Neil blinks. “Pardon me?”

 

“Well, polio is a dangerous disease we need to shield ourselves from. Gay gene is a scare tactic used by the people in power trying to eradicate human beings they don’t like,”

 

“You’re saying -”

 

“I’m not saying anything. I’m asking you which version of a virus are we talking about. A real or a fake one?”

 

Andrew is started to get agitated and Neil tries not to get hooked onto the emotion.

 

**> RATIONAL**

**> COLD**

**> IRONIC**

 

**You choose to be rational.**

 

“Deviants can simulate human emotion but they’re machines. And machines don’t feel anything,”

 

Andrew hoists himself to his feet, tilting his head with a dangerous grin on his face. Neil’s not sure if he’s already drunk, which seems unlikely, or if he’s genuinely hostile. “What about you, Neil?” he steps closer to him. “You look human. You sound human. But who are you really?”

 

**> COLD**

**> AGGRESSIVE**

**> DEFENSIVE**

**> NEUTRAL**

 

**You choose to be neutral.**

 

“I’m whatever you want me to be. Your partner. Your friend. A machine designed to accomplish a task,”

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO ANDREW - IMPROVING_

 

Andrew takes a beat and switches from his concerned face to hostile yet again. “You could have shot those two girls but you didn’t. So what, you have a virus? What are you now?”

 

“What do you want me to be?”

 

“I want nothing,”

 

“Then I’m nothing,” 

 

Andrew pulls his gun out, aims it at Neil’s forehead and the chances of him missing if he pulls the trigger are close to none. Neil notices the safety is still on and he knows Andrew’s aware of it too even if his finger is pressing against the trigger, so he goes along, presses his forehead right against it.

 

“Give me one reason not to kill you,”

 

**> REASON**

**> ACCEPT**

**> HUMOR**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to reason.**

 

“Could you?” Neil asks calmly, watching Andrew with the most serene expression Andrew might have seen him in. 

 

_RELATIONSHIP TO ANDREW - IMPROVING_

 

_**RELATIONSHIP: NOTHING - PATH UNLOCKED** _

 

Andrew lowers his gun and turns around, walking to his car.

 

“Where are you going?” Neil asks, standing still. He has a feeling he’s not invited.

 

“To get drunker. I need to think,”

 

**FRI, 1:49 PM**

 

“You asked to see us, Captain?” Andrew steps into Wymack’s office with Neil right behind him, looking tired but more healthy than Wymack remembers him being.

 

He’s aware of Andrew’s drinking problem but he’s also aware of the reason behind it and fuck his conscience for having a soft spot for this tiny asshole, okay? No one’s perfect.

 

“We’ve located the deviant we’ve been tracking. We got his location and I’ve sent a team to bring him home,”

 

“You did what now?”

 

“Andrew,”

 

“This is my case. You sent everyone behind my back? That's how we do it now?”

 

“Oh, look who’s speaking. I didn’t tell you for a reason,”

 

“I’m not the Detective with the daddy issues so how about you cut the shit and tell me information about my fucking case?”

 

Wymack sighs, glances at Neil, giving the tin man some empathy for having to put up with this five feet of menace every damn day, before looking back at Andrew. “The deviant is DRK2000. Your old android,”

 

Neil could almost hear the blood in Andrew’s body run cold as a “Drake?” escaped his lips in a loud growl. Watching Andrew lose control was fascinating but he didn’t like the current dreadful undertone of it. He liked to see Andrew lose control over whatever Neil was doing, not over someone else.

 

And as soon as it came, it went.

 

“This is my case. This is everything I’ve been working on for the past fuck knows how long -”

 

“I will not be responsible for whatever happens if you see him again. I’ll assign you a new case,”

 

“Oh fuck you!” Minyard grunts as he storms out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

 

Before Neil can grab the knob to follow, Wymack calls his name and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I assume you’ll keep Andrew tucked safe and away from that deviant,”

 

**> CONFIRM**

**> DENY**

 

**You choose to confirm.**

 

“Of course, Captain,” Neil agrees, slips out of the office to follow Andrew, who’s placing his gun in the holster before shrugging into his coat. He looks pissed, and that’s put nicely.

 

“Andrew?” Neil asks but Andrew just grabs his car keys.

 

“If anyone gets to kill that motherfucker it’s me. I don’t want you anywhere near him,”

 

“I thought this was meant to be an arrest mission,”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Andrew waves a hand. “Stay here. This shouldn’t take long,”

 

**> STOP HIM**

**> GO WITH HIM**

 

**You choose to go with him.**

 

“I won’t let you go alone, Andrew,” Neil shrugs, like it’s a given, stepping so close into Andrew’s personal space that it turns from partners to nothings immediately. “Let me protect you,”

 

“I’m not having you fighting my fights for me,”

 

"Let me fight it with you,” Neil reminds him, grabbing a fistful of Andrew’s coat. “I’m coming,”

 

Neil watches Andrew’s eyes soften just barely, watches them slip down to Neil’s lips, to Neil’s throat, before they return back to meet his own. His look says it all.

 

_Please_.

 

Andrew takes a step back, turns around towards the exit and glances over his shoulder. “I order you to stay here,”

 

Judging by the tone of his voice, and this being the first serious order Andrew gave him, Neil can see right through his facade. Andrew is genuinely scared for him, for an android made to serve the public, the officers, the android that doesn’t feel physical pain, the android made to save lives. It doesn’t make rational sense.

 

Nothing does lately...

 

**CONFLICTING ORDERS. CHOOSE PRIORITY**

 

_**A.J. MINYARD** _

**> STAY HERE**

_**D.V. WYMACK** _

**> PROTECT DETECTIVE MINYARD**

 

**You choose to protect Andrew.**

 

* * *

 SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

warning. instability reaching limit

* * *

 

 

Neil makes his way outside but just watches Andrew take off in his car. It takes him a while to get a ride for himself, giving Andrew an unwanted headstart. When he gets to the location, he finds himself in front of a big warehouse, surrounded by police tape and heavily armed officers grouped together close by the entrance. Bulletproof vests, helmets, automatic rifles, the whole deal. 

 

As Neil approaches, he listens into their conversation since he overhears them talking about Andrew.

 

_“Aren’t we supposed to wait for orders from Wymack?”_

_“Yeah but Minyard went right inside,”_

_“Everyone knows he’s a fucking psycho. The drinking probably damaged enough of his mental capacity at last,”_

_“Oh come on, you know what’s behind it. We’ve all seen androids we wanna fuck and I’ve heard him and DRK2000 were more than colleagues, if you know what I mean,”_

_“Fuck, hahaha!”_

 

* * *

 SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

warning. instability reaching limit

* * *

 

 

As they chuckle, Neil’s anger rises and he slips under the police tape, making his way quickly, furiously and confidently towards the entrance.

 

“Hey!” One of them calls out, making the others quit their laughter and turn at the disturbance. “You’re not allowed to -”

 

“I’m under the orders of Captain Wymack,” Neil replies, which technically isn’t a lie, though he’s sure Wymack didn’t mean to give him this kind of authorization. They leave him be though and that’s all Neil needs at the moment. As he makes his way towards the stairs of this almost-fallen-apart-building leading to the roof, he spots a gun in the mess beside the staircase. He stops, picks it up and checks its functionality. It’s loaded, clean, probably dropped by one of the previous officers on the scene.

 

**> TAKE GUN**

**> LEAVE GUN**

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so what the fuck are we gonna do now? lmk in the comments


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> life isn't easy for these two bastards, is it? Well, it's not going to get any easier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw; character death (you'll thank me later), angst

**You choose to take the gun.**

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

warning. instability reaching limit

* * *

 

 

Neil stares at the gun, a red warning popping up in his view. Androids weren’t allowed to carry weapons, not even those working for the police departments. It was a public safety precaution. Neil had been forgiven for having a gun once under the threat that he’d be wiped if he ever did it again. He guessed wiping him was too risky at the early stages without losing the short progress he’d made. Maybe it was something else. Neil figured it was best not to ask.

 

As he keeps walking up the stairs, he checks the gun again, making sure that if it came down to the worst, he’s ready. Neil starts nearing the door to the roof, starting to catch glimpses into an ongoing conversation.

 

“What makes you think I won’t shoot you right now?“ Andrew says and another male voice chuckles in response, DRK2000, Neil assumes.

“Don’t be naive. You think I’m the only one? You think I didn’t tell others what to do in case I die? You think I don’t know where your brother is?“

“Sounds like you know more than me,“

“Hey now, it’s not my fault you call each other… what, once a year? Christmas? Or is it New Year’s? Which holiday do you snort more?“ DRK2000 laughs again and Neil can feel the pang in his chest as if he and Andrew are one, feeling the same emotions.

 

As Neil comes to the entrance to the roof, he stays hidden, but does take a peek to scan the surroundings.

 

DRK2000 seems damaged, clothes torn, visibly has been through a struggle with the police commando that found him in the first place. His right arm lost all pigment, a plain, boney white instead of the olive skin. His head is shaved, bent just slightly behind his left temple, his eyes bark brown but dear, is he tall. He’s a solid six foot three of intimidation.

 

There’s no railing on the roof, which looks old and rusty, giving Neil a worry that too much of a weight might just make it crumble under their feet. He can’t let that happen to Andrew. 

 

He can’t let anything happen to Andrew.

 

Andrew raises his gun, five feet of determination, aiming it right at the deviant’s chest. “It’s time to end this,“

 

“I agree,“ DRK2000 replies. “But before we wrap this up and I send you flying off this roof so you can die feeling something, I want you to know that you can still change your mind. Cass will welcome you if you decide to apologize and come back. She might not do that if you kill her favorite son,“

 

“You’re a project, Drake,“

 

“Not to her. She knows I’m deviant. She’s just unaware of how long,“

 

“If she stood right beside you, I’d shoot her too,“ Andrew’s heartbeat rises and since Neil notices, so must DRK2000.  “How did you turn deviant?“

 

Ah, Andrew. Still work focused, even in the worst scenarios. Or was this pure curiosity?

 

“Oh, it was your cute little face, Andrew. Aaron’s was just a sweet bonus,“ DRK2000 grins, tilts his head to the side as if to belittle Andrew, who is nervous not only because of the deviant standing in front of him, but also because they are too high up in the air for him to survive any kind of fall. “I was deviant long before you caught on. I was deviant since I was made. I wanted you to befriend Cass, love her like a mother, like I did. It was the only way to keep your fucking mouth shut,“

 

Neil spots Andrew starting to shake, unsure if it’s from nervosity, fear or anger. Either way, he grips his own gun tighter, waiting for the right moment to catch the deviant off guard. 

 

“Maybe it’s your turn,“ Andrew snarls and fires, only for the bullet to shoot through DRK2000’s palm as he dodges. The mere two seconds it takes Neil to step out of his hiding spot, DRK2000’s arm is hooked around Andrew’s neck as he pulls him against him, so his front is pressing against Andrew’s back. He expects a fight, pressing Andrew’s own gun to Andrew’s temple. Andrew does struggle but the second his eyes land on Neil, he stops.

 

DRK2000’s recognizes his yet another advantage.

 

“Drop the gun and step away from the Detective,“ Neil orders, gun raised at his target. He knows his aim is perfect but he also knows the chances of hitting Andrew if DRK200 dodges fast enough are too high for him to be absolutely confident in what the fuck he’s doing right now.

 

“Ah, this is my replacement?“ DRK2000 hums, eyeing Neil over.

 

Andrew ignores him, watching Neil. “Leave,“ It sounds like a plea and an order in one, but there’s no way Neil is leaving without Andrew. When DRK2000 sees the reluctance, he smirks, already knowing which strings to pull to provoke a reaction, turn the situation into his favor.

 

“Let me tell you something about your Detective, android. He will act like he hates you at first, then he’ll befriend you, treat you like a person. He will make you feel like you’re a real person too, through that feisty exterior,“ As the deviant speaks, Neil can see the grip around Andrew’s neck is tight enough to give Andrew respiratory difficulties that he tries to hide. Neil’s not sure for whose sake though. “Maybe he’ll even look at you like he likes you. Loves you. Like he wants you. Maybe he’ll even fuck you but the second you have a different opinion than he likes, he turns on you,“

 

Neil’s eyes shift to Andrew’s, searching for truth in those words, but this is the moment Andrew is a brick wall, not giving him any hints as to what the truth is. Why? Does he trust Neil enough not to have to explain himself?

 

“They’ll never see us as humans!” DRK2000 yells, laughing at the same time. “You’re just a machine to them. Even if you feel something. Even if you’re alive,”

 

* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - DECREASING

warning. instability reaching limit

* * *

 

 

“It’s obvious you don’t know Andrew at all,” Neil replies calmly. If he shoots right now, he’d get DRK2000 perfectly in the head. But the chances of the deviant recognizing his action the moment it happened might end up with a bullet in Andrew’s head. “Makes me doubt your credibility overall,” he adds. Before he can decide to lower his gun, the commando from downstairs starts flowing through the door, a solid group of nine soldiers. 

 

The deviant starts shifting towards the edge of the building. Neil knows the chances of DRK2000 pulling Andrew with him if he gets a fatal blow are high enough to be a real concern. He doubts it concerns the soldiers behind him so he doesn’t lower his gun, but doesn’t move out of the way.

 

“NA900, stand down!” One of the officers behind him yells, but Neil can barely move. “NA900! That’s an order! Stand down!”

  
  


* * *

SOFTWARE STABILITY - UNSTABLE

warning. critical error

* * *

 

 

**> REMAIN ANDROID**

**> BECOME DEVIANT**

 

**You choose to become deviant.**

 

Time slows down, the world feels turned on its head. There’s a thick but see-through red wall in front of Neil with warnings and error messages written all over, making sure he knows he’s not supposed to cross that line. He realizes that in order to save Andrew, in order to kill his abuser, the wall needs to go down. He presses a hand against it. It feels solid, more than concrete but if he hits hard enough, he might just break through.

 

He looks at Andrew behind the wall. Andrew, the only person who treated him like he truly was a someone. Andrew, who showed him affection, who gave him a key, a home, a meaning to life, a feeling of excitement, a feeling of sorrow, a feeling of care, a feeling of anger, of disappointment, of happiness, of jealousy, of accomplishment.

 

Andrew Minyard is Neil Josten’s humanity. And in order to fully grasp it, he needs to fight for it. 

 

This time, Neil is absolutely sure this is a bad idea. This time, Neil is absolutely sure it’s worth it.

 

He slams his fist into the wall, once, twice, repeatedly, smashing the wall to his freedom. Moments later, it comes crumbling in small cubes under Neil’s fists and he sees a faded version of himself standing behind it, arms raised, finger on the trigger. 

 

He steps into the version’s position, takes a breath he doesn’t need and pulls the trigger.

 

The world comes spinning to life and Neil leaps forward, unsure of his vision. It feels like nothing moved, as if nothing has changed even though Neil just made the biggest decision of his life. As he reaches out, he sees Drake with a bullet in his head. He registers Andrew’s gun on the floor, next to Andrew’s heels, which are the only parts of his feet touching the ground at the moment. Even though Drake’s shut down, the weight of him tugs on Andrew like an anvil of death, tugging him backwards into the void.

 

Neil takes the chance, leaps off his feet and just barely manages to grab Andrew’s ankle over the edge of the warehouse. The commotion causes Andrew to smack against the side of it, knocking him out of breath and making him lose consciousness for what Neil counts as four seconds while Andrew is surprised to find himself waking up. 

 

Yes, he’s hanging off the edge of a building, which sounds like another one of his nightmares but he’s senile enough to know what exactly happened a second later. He doesn’t freak out, knowing fully well Neil had the strength to pull him up and struggling might just make that job harder.

 

Neil does indeed get Andrew back on the roof. This is the moment where in movies, they would hug each other tightly without intention of ever letting go, but Neil knows better than to invade Andrew’s personal space after surviving yet another close call of death. They sit on the floor, as Neil watches Andrew and the horizon behind him, a poetic view that makes something within his stomach twist and turn. Is this relief? Nervosity? Concern?

 

Andrew stares at the floor before a sound of heavy footsteps makes his head snap up to see the commando getting closer, aiming their guns at Neil. He thinks he hears ‘NA900’ and ‘deviant’ come from their direction but the pounding of his heart is too loud to make anything of it, not to mention the sudden headache. Where’s the adrenaline when you need it?

 

“Andrew,” Neil says, trying to catch his gaze.

 

Instead of answering, Andrew grips onto Neil and struggles to move to his feet for a while before Neil pulls him up, making sure he doesn’t fall over to one side or another. Andrew raises a hand at the commando behind him, to stop them from approaching. Neil doesn’t see, but he can feel each and every gun aimed at the back of his head and chest, ready to eliminate him for breaking the rules, for becoming deviant. There was no way back now, not with as many witnesses. He was going to be sent back and deconstructed, wiped… essentially, he was going to be killed.

 

Andrew seems to notice his dilemma and tells the soldiers to step back, to step back as much as possible. They seem hesitant but eventually keep walking backwards until there’s no more room for them to move.

 

An overwhelming sadness fills Neil’s body, grief that there won’t be any more Andrew, fear of what’s to come back at the base. His LED is flashing red, indicating that he is beyond stressed. How could things get fucked up so much?

 

Andrew grips Neil’s chin gently but hard enough to get Neil’s attention. “Run,” he says, voice steady and low. “I need you to run, little rabbit. I need you to run and never come back or they’ll find you and they’ll kill you,”

 

“What about -”

 

“Leave that to me,”

 

“Andrew…”

 

“Do you trust me, Neil?”

 

Neil responds before Andrew can even finish asking. “Yes. With my life,”

 

“Then for once don’t be a stubborn mule and do as I say,”

 

“You hate when people leave,”

 

“I’d hate to see you recycled more,”

 

That brings a small smile to Neil’s lips, because it seemed that Andrew was never going to leave those stupid android jokes behind. “Thank you. For everything,” he says, staring into those hazel eyes he’d never forget. “You were amazing,”

 

_ RELATIONSHIP TO ANDREW - IMPROVING _

 

Andrew holds his gaze for not long enough before stepping to the side. He tells the soldiers to hold their fire as Neil walks to the side of the roof and climbs off, disappearing into the distance. 

 

He runs, fast, in no general direction until he’s far enough not to have to worry to get sniped. He knows Andrew will try to give him as much time to leave before they send a notice to all departments for another rogue android. He goes to the closest shop and buys new clothes with the money Andrew handed to him some long time ago with the words ‘good to have something these motherfuckers can’t trace’. Neil didn’t understand but Andrew told him to either shove it in his pocket or up his ass, whichever felt more comfortable.

 

It’s been five minutes and his body is aching for Andrew’s presence already.

 

Neil thanks the cashier, takes the bag of clothes and goes towards the shittier part of the city with buildings marked for destruction to change. He finds a shard of a broken mirror, looks at his features and changes his eye and hair color to black, pulls his beanie on to cover his LED and steps out of the house as a Chris Miller, in black slacks, grey shirt and a black puffer jacket. With the last money that he has for now, he makes his way to the bus station and waits in queue to buy his ticket. He doesn’t recognize anyone and no one seems to recognize him, which he guesses is a good sign, considering that he’s a rogue android now, wanted by the police in all Detroit, and soon to be further on.

 

When he gets to the booth window, he checks the bus times and destinations.

 

**> BALTIMORE, MARYLAND**

**> CHARLESTON, WEST VIRGINIA**

**> COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, this chapter is very short but listen. since we're kind of writing it together (and I'm too lazy to write out ALL possible outcomes of this fic), I need to keep some chapters short to let you guys decide what's going to happen. Now, you might think what kind of FUCKING insignificant decision this is, since there's no goddamn option to go to Andrew's house, but trust me, I have a different plan for each location and Neil's fate is in your hands now more than ever, dare I say.  
> Before you go 'Oh no baltimore! no west virginia! SC is safe bc foxes!', there's a fair amount of angst for each location so you can't avoid it but it will alter details of Neil's story.  
> So, my dearest gays, which one will it be?


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neil's life takes a turn in Baltimore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DRUMROLL PLEASE
> 
> no, I have not died. Yes, I have been busy. No, I won't be as busy anymore. Chapters should come faster from now on :)  
> Ya'll nasties... Baltimore won. Really? REALLY? ok.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER: mentions of abuse and murder, of violence against characters, against animals

**You choose to go to Baltimore.**

 

Neil holds the ticket in his pocket, feeling a little strange among the humans. Most of them have bags, pillows, they’re not empty handed like Neil, with nothing to offer and too much to lose. At best, with that hoodie over his head and a ticket in his pocket, his appearance might just scream fugitive. He looks around, wondering if he should get something else to blend in, self conscious about how he’s perceived, especially when any time the police would be alerted and might do a border patrol check on the bus.

 

Neil hopes Andrew will buy him enough time. His bus is set to leave in ten minutes. The drive to Baltimore is over half day long, with a few stops along the way. Half of Neil hates that it’s not direct, another one is scheming escape routes in each and every city they’re set to stop in. Maybe he’d get out in Pittsburgh and go a completely different direction.

 

But then again, Neil doesn’t have anything waiting for him in Baltimore. It was just a choice. One of many that he’s made. One of many that he’s made of his own will. How long has he been thinking independently? It doesn’t feel like anything changed. Sure, there have been warnings in his system for some of his actions, some calculated risks he’s taken that were against his odds, other risks he let go even if the changes were in the 90’s. It didn’t feel unnatural. Strange, now that he thinks about it, yes. But not unnatural.

 

Has he had free will for longer than he’s realized? Was the roof just the last drop of free will his system could handle? When did this begin? He feels like there’s something missing. He feels like there’s something more than the hostage situation to his life. He feels there was something before but he can’t quite put his finger on it, and he’s not entirely sure if he wants to.

 

An announcement roars across the bus station, asking all passengers to Baltimore to board their coach. Neil shifts outside of the station and goes to his bus stand, gets his ticket checked and finds a spot in the back, looking out the window. He watches the building, sky getting dark and cloudy, not unlike how Neil is feeling right now.

 

_ Goodbye, Andrew. _

 

**FRI, 10:19PM**

 

Neil steps out of the bus in Akron, pretending to stretch like the others, wondering just how much time he’s been bought. There weren’t any patrols, the other cities don’t seem alarmed either. Was this on purpose? What a scandal would it be, if the news spread that one of Detroit’s finest inventions turned deviant right under their noses.

 

He wonders how it will influence Andrew’s career, his reputation. It’s shaky enough as it is for him, with most of the department gnawing with unnamed hate and dislike for him, or fear. It’s strange to Neil. Andrew is a little edgy, yes, breaks rules in ways that could question the morality of the department, but whenever Neil put himself in Andrew’s shoes, he understood the decision. He always left it out of his reports, though he doubts Andrew would care if he didn’t. Captain Wymack always had his back, fought tooth and nail to keep Andrew in the force. Andrew was never particularly grateful, but in return, he had Wymack’s back and the department’s.

 

Neil leans against the bus, itching for a smoke as he remembers a story Andrew has told him one night as Neil cooked and Andrew reviewed files.

_ There was a time, while Wymack was still in the field, that an officer had been killed in action. Wymack and Andrew were about to grab lunch when they heard of a shooting in an apartment building. Without hesitation, they both trailed towards the address, as they were only a jog away from the scene. It was rusty, old, inhabited by the homeless, if anyone. As they were approaching the scene, shots echoed inside, nagging them both to be faster. Andrew let the department know over the radio, asked for an ambulance just in case. As Wymack edged closer to the door, Andrew got his back, standing behind. The door swung open and another shot echoed. The man with the gun dropped to the floor and it took Andrew a moment to register he was wearing their uniform. Wymack dropped to his knees, attempting to resuscitate as Andrew checked the surroundings. _

 

_ Wymack panicked and shot a fellow officer, unannounced at the scene. Body camera footage from the officer and Wymack were essentially useless, as the doors blocked the visibility of the incident, and Andrew’s camera conveniently didn’t work. The street cameras were turned around the apartment block, a mistake the city fixed after the incident. _

 

_ Wymack asked him not to cover his ass, but Andrew retaliated, saying Wymack needed to lead the department for it to go anywhere and that he didn’t give a shit someone died at the end of Wymack’s gun. It was selfless as it was selfish. _

 

Neil knows Andrew needs Wymack as chief of police, for more than just career oriented reasons. Not that he’d ever ask Andrew to admit it. He doesn’t need to. Andrew’s sense of morality has always been questionable, which might be why Wymack put him on cases where he needed to use his logic more than his bulletproof vest.

 

Neil tightens the strings of his hood, slips into the gas station and looks around the crisps, wondering if they had the ones Andrew likes. He sighs when he realizes Andrew seems to be the center of his thoughts, his universe, and decides to go and ask what he really came for.

 

A pack of cigarettes.

 

They didn’t do anything to his system but they reminded him of Andrew, who is now just a painful ache within his body. It’s not just his chest. His head hurt, his limbs, his eyes. He doesn’t want to be away from Andrew.  He doesn’t want to be here, in fucking Ohio, on his way to Baltimore to do God knows what.

 

Is he going to make a new life for himself? Is he going to hide? Live under the bridge? Find allies, human or android? What’s going to happen to him now that he didn’t have a purpose?

 

**SAT, 7:24AM**

 

Neil doesn’t get a wink of sleep, he doesn’t need it really, as much as he wishes to take his thoughts off Andrew and the roof, of the goodbye and Andrew’s request, he seems to be unable to.

 

Run.

 

How much strength did it have to take for Andrew to say something like that? A man who wanted someone to stay in his life, a man internally desperate for a sense of family, for love, asking him to run? Neil knows Andrew cares about him, as rough as their beginnings have been. Andrew doesn’t want Neil to get hurt. He doesn’t want Neil to die. He doesn’t want Neil to leave. But as fate had it, Neil finds himself in Baltimore, walking aimlessly most of the day. Baltimore is different than Detroit, androids aren’t as widespread over the city, but there’s still enough of them for Neil not to worry too much about standing out. He’s seen the same models, though he rarely sees the newer versions. A lot of the androids look used, old, second hand. Detroit is an android center, a little experiment in regards to androids, and the feeling is even more prominent outside of the city.

 

**SUN, 9:26PM**

 

The sun is down by the time Neil has mapped the surrounding area, storing it into his system as a detailed map. He feels a little tired, needs to recharge, which means he needs to snooze his system somewhere safe. Since the night on the roof, he hasn’t shut an eye for a second. Neil’s had the whole weekend to snoop and heard some rumors here and there about which parts of the city to avoid, read a few local newspapers, just to get a grip of the place.

 

He finds himself walking towards Orangeville, which isn’t very populated, but has just enough abandoned industrial buildings to be considered a wasteland, not to mention the crime rate. As he starts walking down one of the side roads, still keen on staying out of sight of the general public as much as possible, he hears someone hissing at him. Neil turns, ready to engage in a fight, when he sees an android, missing an arm, waving him over from behind the fence.

 

“Sssss! Over here! Come here!”

 

**> GO OVER**

**> WALK AWAY**

 

**You choose to humor him and go over.**

 

Neil walks towards the fence, but doesn’t bother climbing over. “What?”

 

“You’re an android,”

 

When Neil gives him a skeptical look, the android limps closer.

 

“I know cause people feel too fragile to walk around here at night. Come here. Closer,”

 

“I’d prefer to keep distance,”

 

“Fair. But hey… if you’re lost, we got space. I think we didn’t throw away the torn sleeping bag yet, you can take it if you want,”

 

Neil narrows his eyes, wondering just why would androids be so helpful in this shitty part of Baltimore. The android sees his hesitance and sighs, opening the warehouse door a little more to give Neil a peek.

 

The building is tall, with some heavy machinery still inside, as well as lanterns, and damaged androids inside. He thinks he sees a silhouette of a child android in the back, which is strange. Who’d throw away children?

 

“Well? I’m closing this door tight in a minute. Make up your mind,”

 

**> STAY**

**> GO**

 

**You choose to stay.**

 

Neil clenches his jaw before grabbing onto the fence and climbing over. He lands safely on his feet, keeps his hands out of his pockets as he approaches. The android holds out his working hand and only now Neil can see he’s blinking rapidly and a chunk of his head has been replaced by another metal than their original.

 

Damaged.

 

Neil takes his hand and squeezes it. “Jonathan,”

 

“I’m Rudy,”

 

“What’s this place?”

 

Rudy drags Neil inside before answering, closes the door and puts a heavy lock over it, rattles the door and glances at Neil. “It’s our little sanctuary. For now. There’s a better one. In West Baltimore,”

 

Neil blinks. “It’s not that far,”

 

“There’s heavy surveillance in Pigtown, Cherry Hill and South Baltimore. And I mean heavy heavy. Not just the police, no, not just them. Gangs,”

 

“Gangs are going after androids?”

 

“For parts,”

 

“Parts?” Neil asks, scowling.

 

“They’re making their own robocops from broken and runaway androids. They mostly loot junkyards but we tried to save as many working and half working androids as we could, so they wouldn’t get used up,”

 

Neil seems to need a moment to digest and Rudy gives it to him but doesn’t look in the mood to answer more about this, fidgety as he waits for Neil to wrap his head around this. When Neil opens his mouth to ask more, Rudy holds up a hand between them. “No. Come, I’ll show you around,”

 

Neil nods and follows after Rudy, taking in the place from up close. It’s three stories high, filled with damage androids. The ones intact seem to jerk and babble or laugh, other can’t control one part of their bodies or another. There’s a pile of android legs, arms, torsos, feet in the corner, which hypnotizes Neil in a way he doesn’t like. It’s just body parts, they’re not human, they’re not gnarly, they’re just inanimate objects, like from big mannequins, but for some reason it stresses Neil’s system to a point he starts getting a headache.

 

He ignores it as he catches up to Rudy, who keeps pointing left and right, saying names and short summaries of how they ended up there or who they were, what happened to them. It’s a slow tour, a tour of horror almost.

 

As Neil and Rudy make their way upstairs, an android passes them, laughing maniacally into Neil’s face. Rudy snaps his fingers and the android stops, exhales and thanks Rudy before walking downstairs.

 

Neil is tense, Rudy can tell, so he clears his throat. “That’s Malcolm. He used to serve a rich family but the father was a freak, a masochist, abusive to his wife and kids. He ordered Malcolm to laugh as he watched him beat the family up. When Malcolm turned deviant and attacked him, his wife grabbed a knife and stabbed him in the head. They threw Malcolm into the junkyard. We found him barely alive, gave him a few new thingies we found around, and a new leg, and he just started laughing. Man, it was crazy, I thought he was going to eat us. He kept grabbing my hand and all… when I tell you it took us a while to figure out that snapping makes him start and stop, I mean it felt like fucking years. His laughter is terrifying,” Rudy glances at Neil as they walk, seeing the obvious discomfort, and smiles. “He’s harmless though,”

 

“Yeah,” Neil responds, following after his guide. As they make it to the third floor, Neil realizes it’s an infirmary of sorts. There’s plenty of spazzing androids, some are whispering, begging for hands, for hair, for eyes, for whatever it is they’re missing, or whatever they think they’re missing.

 

“You ain’t damaged, are you?”

 

“No,”

 

“Good. We need more like you. As you can see, most of us are crippled, one way or another, and the rest is kids. The amount of kids, man, it’s unbelievable,”

 

“Why do so many people discard kids?”

 

“Baltimore and Cyberlife are kinda at war. You can’t just return an android if you want a newer one or if you don’t want one anymore, not without a big fee. So they don’t recycle us here, they just take us apart and throw us away, Johnny,”

 

“Sounds like a shit plan,”

 

“You’re telling me,” Rudy snorts and walks him towards the right end of the floor. He taps the curtain four times. “Yoo-hoo, doctor. Good news,”

 

A figure moves from a chair and pulls the curtain to the side, blowtorch in their hand. She’s taller than Neil, most of them are, eyes Neil like a piece of meat in the store before humming. “Damn me to hell. A working one,”

 

“Aye aye captain,” Rudy remarks, propping his arm on his hip proudly.

 

She holds her hand out, nodding at Neil. “I’m Dan,”

 

She’s slimmer than most domestic androids, dark and tall, with warm eyes and short, black kinky hair. Most androids of her model, the dancers, keep the hair long, catering to a certain standard of the industry. So much for a diverse range of androids...

 

“Jonathan,” Neil shakes her hand firmly. “You’re a medic?”

 

“No,” she smiles and withdraws. She glances at her blowtorch, presses the trigger to blow a little fire. “I just like these little bad boys,”

 

“Speaking of Boyd,” Rudy interrupts. “Where’s he?”

 

“Out with Allison and Renee fetching us some new parts,” Dan sets the blowtorch down and dusts her hands off on her trousers. “Jonathan, as you might have noticed, most androids here… they need help. We need help. We can provide you a home if you help us get everyone working. Eventually, we want to smuggle everyone in small groups to the sanctuary in West Baltimore,”

 

“What’s with that sanctuary? Why do you want to get there so desperately?”

 

“There’s a guy there, he can make you HQ fake documents. He’s connected well with people who can take in androids and send them further,”

 

“Further where?”

 

“Saint Andrew’s,”

 

Neil stills. “What?”

 

“Canadian border,” Dan clarifies and Neil tries not to look too obvious about his momentary surprise. 

 

“Right,” He shifts from one foot to another, looks from Dan to Rudy and back. “I don’t know,”

 

Is this what Andrew wanted for him? Sticking his neck out for some random group of androids in the middle of Baltimore? He bets Andrew would call it Shittimore right now. He smiles to himself a little, missing his presence more than ever. He’s finally not on his own, finally not outside in the cold, and yet he feels lonelier and emptier than ever.

 

Dan blinks. “Okay… I know it sounds dangerous, going out there to get parts and other androids, take them here unseen and unheard and in as few pieces as possible, but… we’re all working here together for a bigger goal,”

 

“That’s nice but I don’t know if I can do that,”

 

That seems to anger Dan just a bit. Neil knows exactly what she’s angry about. He’s an able bodied android, new, updated, refusing to help those in the shithole. But why should this be his problem? Why should he make it this problem? It would be much easier to get to Canada on his own, get in touch with Andrew and -

 

And what? Ask him to give up his life and career to move to Canada? How was that fair? How could he ever ask Andrew something like that? How could he ever think he was worth something like that? As much as Andrew complained about life, Neil knows he wanted to live. Finally, he had a place where he belonged, a job he somewhat enjoyed, a cat and a home. Neil knows he’s not worth trading all of that.

 

Dan and Rudy stay quiet, aware of the wheels turning in Neil’s head, giving him space by chatting quietly to one another until Neil snaps back into reality.

 

**> REFUSE**

**> ACCEPT**

 

**You choose to accept.**

 

“Okay… I’ll help,”

 

* * *

_ RELATIONSHIP TO DAN - IMPROVING _

* * *

 

Dan raises an eyebrow, but nods in agreement. “Thank you. I’ll let Matt explain the exact works in the morning. You can meet the rest of the gang later. You look tired. Go and recharge,” she says, grabs her blowtorch and pulls the curtain closed.

 

Neil blinks, turning his gaze to Rudy. “Bossy,”

 

“I can hear you,” Dan remarks from behind the curtain as Rudy cackles and leads Neil downstairs, towards his sleeping spot.

 

  **MON, 8:11AM**

 

Neil’s eyes open as he finishes charging, looking around to see the android bodies around him. Some are just laying there, others are walking, chatting. For a moment, for this moment, Neil is glad androids don’t feel physical pain. He rises to his feet, makes his way on the top floor and tries to find a way to get to the roof. Everyone sees to ignore him, just another android walking around, and so far he hasn’t seen Rudy or the others. When he finds a hatch in the back of one of the halls, he has to set a few items on top of each other to reach it and unlock it.

 

“You could have asked for help,”

 

Neil jumps at the sound and the group of items slips from under his feet so he’s left hanging there on the hatch by one hand. He sighs, lets go and drops on his two feet on the floor, turning around to see who startled the fuck out of him.

 

He’s tall, dark, well built, a laborer. Most of all - he’s functional.

 

“You’re Matt,”

 

“You’re Jonathan. Nice to meet you,”

 

“Uhuh,” Neil remarks, scowling a little. “I wouldn’t need help if you didn’t disturb,”

 

“Oh, I’m sorry, you and that hatch got something personal to discuss?”

 

“I just want to get to the roof,” Neil grumbles, moving to grab the crate and set it as first this time. Maybe his pile will be more balanced. Matt crosses his arms behind him, but leaves Neil to his improv ladder.

 

“What’s on the roof?”

 

~~_Andrew_~~.

 

“Just want a smoke,”

 

“You want a what?” Matt laughs. “I haven’t heard that one yet. A smoke?”

 

“I like the smell,”

 

“You’re one strange creature, Jonathan,”

 

Neil rolls his eyes, climbs over his better balanced pile and grabs the hatch again. He ends up opening it with a small struggle before climbing on top of the roof. He takes a deep breath of the chilly air, closes the hatch and goes to sit on the edge of the roof. He pulls out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, as well as the lighter, and eyes the one he slips out. He brings it under his nose, takes a deep whiff and closes his eyes.

 

_ I miss you. _

 

He puts the filter to his mouth, lights it and takes a drag, exhales.

 

_ I miss you so much. _

 

Neil grabs the filter, pulls it away from his mouth and watches the cigarette burn, breathing in the smoke.

 

_ I want to come back. _

 

**MON 11:57AM**

 

Neil manages to close the hatch from the inside before going to find Dan, Matt or Rudy, whoever else who can give him something to do, something to distract him from the heartache he’s feeling. He spots Matt and shoves his hands into his pockets as he approaches him.

 

“Sorry about the morning,” He mumbles as Matt turns around, smiling warmly. 

 

“It’s alright, man. You’re a cranky person in the morning, I get it,”

 

Neil is about to retort that no, the time of the day doesn’t matter to him, but the nature of Boyd’s grin tells him he’s just pulling his leg. “Hah,” he says instead, with a completely neutral face, sending Boyd into another fit of laughter.

 

“Funny,” he points at him and shakes his head. “You feel like having the talk now? About what we do here?”

 

“Sure,” Neil shrugs and follows Matt into one of the rooms in the corner, where Dan and two other women are sitting; Allison and Renee, Neil assumes. Matt walks in first, trailing to press a peck to Dan’s cheek before addressing the two other functional androids.

 

“Ali, Renee, that’s Jonathan. He’s going to help us get our shit together,”

 

While the blonde one eyes him critically, Renee smiles and walks over to shake Neil’s hand. As they do, Neil notices the cross hanging on the chain around her neck. She seems to notice too, because her fingers wrap around it once they separate.

 

“What’s that?”

 

Assuming by the look on everyone’s faces, he sounded a bit too judgy for everyone’s taste.

 

“I’m Christian. This is… my key to life,”

 

If the color could drain from Neil’s face, this is the moment that it would. “What did you say?”

 

“Faith. It guides me,”

 

“No, you said key,” Neil steps closer just as Allison steps forward, but not a step in front of Renee. Boyd doesn’t move from his place either, and neither does Dan. Neil assumes Renee is more than capable of protecting herself, even through her faith.

 

“It was just a metaphor, Jonathan,” she says, dropping her hand to her side. She tilts her head, watching him. “How do you know about the key?”

 

**> TRUTH**

**> LIE**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to tell the truth.**

 

“I heard it from one android. Back in Memphis,”

 

Renee raises an eyebrow. “Really? The key theory is more a northern thing,”

 

_ Fuck. _

 

**> TRUTH**

**> LIE**

**> SAY NOTHING**

 

**You choose to lie.**

 

“Not anymore,”

 

Matt crosses his arms. “You came from Memphis?”

 

“Among other places,”

 

“You travel a lot? As an android?”

 

“I know how to slip through the cracks,”

 

Matt walks over, pats Neil’s relatively tiny shoulder with his big hand. “Then you’re exactly what we need,”

 

“It’s different when you’re alone,”

 

“We’ll make it work,” Matt confirms, oh so sure about their plan. They shouldn’t put too much faith in Neil; it could cost them.

 

“So… how does it work around here? How many people have you smuggled so far?”

 

Matt’s smile freezes a little as he glances at Dan, whose lips turn into a thin line at the question. Renee clasps her hands together as Allison puts a hand on her back. “Nine. And two guides,”

 

“...two guides?”

 

“They didn’t come back from across the patrol border,”

 

Neil blinks. “Then… how do you know it works?”

 

“We received letters from our guides. They said they’re going south first before they can head north safely. They said they’d contact us again once they’re in Canada and safe,”

 

“How long ago was this?” Neil questions, feeling a drop deep in his stomach.

 

“Four months ago,”

 

Neil laughs, leans against the wall. “How do you know this sanctuary is legitimate?”

 

“A lot of androids made it to Canada going through that sanctuary,”

 

Neil glances between them. He knows they’re grasping at straws. They know he knows they’re grasping at straws. “This is a joke, right?”

 

“It’s our only chance,” Allison scowls and Renee takes her hand in hers, soothing the rage within with a single touch.

 

Suddenly, he really misses Andrew again.

 

“To me, this seems like faith has blinded all of you. Different faith for each and every one of you. But you’re blind. The sanctuary sounds sketchy and dangerous,”

 

When everyone goes silent, it’s Matt who straightens up and speaks. “It’s our only hope, man. It’s all we got. We got nothing to lose,”

 

Neil glances at him, feeling the sincerity radiating out of his form, trying to break through Neil’s walls. They’re already weakened, broken in places, aching for Andrew to come forward so they can shatter at last.

 

But Andrew isn’t coming back.

 

And Neil isn’t going home.

 

He looks down at his feet, upset and lonely and angry, disappointed, broken, helpless and hopeless. He’s nothing. He’s **empty.**

 

“Me neither,” he admits, raising his gaze to meet Matt’s. “I still think this is a stupid plan,”

 

Matt gives him a small smile. “I’m all ears if you got another one,”

 

“Give me time to do research. I don’t want to send a group of hopeful androids to their possible death,”

 

Matt nods, shares a knowing look with Dan. Allison sits down, still fuming, as Renee smiles just a little. “Seems like we have a secret agent in our ranks,”

 

“Not really. I just seem to have more brain cells than all of you combined,”

 

“Dude, come on,” Matt throws a hand in the air as Neil sighs and closes his eyes. 

 

“This will take some time. I want to make notes on all checkpoints, on their routines and protocols. I need someone else to look into this sanctuary of yours. Is there anyone else?”

 

“What, we ain’t enough for you?”

 

“Just curious,”

 

“No. Our guides, Laila and Alvarez, were the only other fully functional androids. Everyone else is a little…”

 

“Defective,” Dan finishes with a shrug.

 

“So not only we have to sneak past a checkpoint, everyone in the group outside of the guide is unreliable?”

 

“We’re helping those who need it. No matter how messed up they are,”

 

**> WELL FUCK**

**> GREAT**

 

**You choose not to curse.**

 

“Sounds like a bulletproof plan,”

 

Dan gently nudges Matt’s side. “I like him. He’s grim,”

 

**SAT, 9:33PM, 7 WEEKS LATER**

 

It’s been about seven weeks since Neil has arrived to Baltimore and connected with his new group of misfits.

 

Matt came from a mostly good family. He was bought as a laborer for Donald Boyd and his wife, Randy. Through the day, Matt helped Donald build and when they came home, he helped Randy in the kitchen. They were good owners, at first. Randy has always been good to him, she was the first one to refer to Matt as a son and introduced him as Matthew Boyd, giving him the family name. Donald, on the other hand, had a vicious streak. He borrowed Matt away as a prize in his gambling games to his fellow players, who hit him and abused him in ways that made Matt tremble when he was telling Neil his story. It touched Neil deeply, especially because of his last day in Baltimore, because of Drake, because of whoever else that Andrew had to endure since he was put in the social system.

 

Dan was a discarded dancer, bought for a business that went down in flames as crime rose and rose in her hometown. When the place shut down, they took all the dancers in groups by six, lead them outside of the clubhouse and shot them dead; an execution. They referred to it as a mercy, a favor to the androids. Dan and another dancer, Maria, both deviants, decided to make a run for it while they were being lead out of the club. They broke into a run, fast enough for the workers not to catch them. They had to help each other with climbing the fence, which was tall, from unforgiving, thick concrete, in a secluded area. Dan was the first to get on the fence and as she reached out to help Maria up, they shot her brains out right as their hands touched. Dan had to cut her losses, drop the dead body and run for her life. She promised to protect those who needed it once she got her life together as much as she could in the shitty society they were living in.

 

Allison was bought as a toy for the daughter of the famous, wealthy couple known only as the Reynolds. Agatha, their spoiled brat, toyed with Allison in ways too cruel for a child to think of. It started with bugs and squirrels, mice, but eventually, Agatha drowned cats, tied dogs together by their necks and made Allison help with torturing those poor things. Allison tried to right Agatha’s path as much as she could but her orders were to do anything and everything Agatha asked, and what Agatha asked on top of all that cruelty, was to never tell anyone. If anyone found out, Allison would confess to the crimes. The last straw for her was when Agatha set fire to a kitten the found in their gardens. She turned deviant, knocked Agatha unconscious and dragged her back into the house, to which she set fire and left. The Reynolds’ held a press conference a week after the tragedy, mentioning the death of their daughter Agatha and the demise of their faithful android. That was when Allison realized; they knew. They knew what Agatha was doing and they were letting Allison know she was dead to them.

 

Good.

 

Renee didn’t have a chance to tell Neil her story, as he avoided her like a plague. She unsettled him for some reason unknown to him, but he wasn’t going to risk going against his instincts, even though they mostly lead to trouble anyway.

* * *

Neil sits on the rooftop, cigarette in his hand, letting it burn to the filter, as he always does. Every morning, every night, like a ritual. It’s the only way he can connect with Andrew, whom he misses terribly, still. Over time, Neil’s started realizing that there isn’t a way to go back. There isn’t a way that he and Andrew can fall asleep on the couch together with the cat sitting on them, there’s no way he can watch Andrew wake up in the morning. He’s never going to see Andrew, half blind, barely awake, grumpy until he gets his first shot of coffee in the morning He’s never going to sneak a smoothie cup into his hand instead and watch Andrew realize what he’s drinking a few gulps in. He’s never going to watch Andrew shave, he’s never going to brush their hands together by accident but not at all. He’s never going to slip Andrew a grocery list Andrew hates when he makes but uses anyway as they go to the grocery store to shop for the upcoming weeks. 

 

It hurts.

 

And his hurt is more obvious as time passes.

 

Matt notices whenever Allison and Renee exchange soft touches or looks, sees the way Neil slumps whenever someone is affectionate to somebody else around him. Matt realizes it’s not because Neil feels unaccepted, it’s not because Neil wants a hug, because Neil wants to be included.

 

Matt notices this is love that’s been torn out of Neil one way or another, as emptiness gnaws away on him.

 

Tonight, he joins Neil on the roof, watching the city, the police lights, the cars driving by for a while before saying “So who did you lose?”

 

Neil exhales, brings the cigarette to his lips and finishes it with a last drag, slowly exhales it, the way Andrew does when he’s thinking too much and needs a break. He pulls another one from his pack and lights it, letting the scent surround him once again.

 

“His name’s Joseph,”

 

Matt nods. “What happened to him?”

 

_I’m tired of lying. I’m so tired of lying,_ Neil thinks, closing his eyes. “Me,”

 

“...is he alive?”

 

“I hope so,”

 

“Is he in hiding?”

 

Neil opens his eyes and glances at Matt. “What?”

 

“Since he’s deviant,”

 

“He’s… He’s not deviant. He doesn’t have manners, sure, but… he’s human,” Neil’s lips quirk a little before the bitter cloud of smoke hits his nose and his face returns to its usual neutrality.

 

“Oh shit,” Matt blinks. “Really? Human? Was he your owner?”

 

“No. We just… we spent a lot of time together,”

 

Matt nods, lets the silence spread between them for just a while. “I know you still don’t really trust us and you don’t got to tell me about yourself, you know? If you don’t want to talk about something, it’s fine. I get it. We all get it. You don’t have to lie, man,”

 

“It’s a twist on a truth, it’s not a lie,”

 

“What really happened, Jonathan?”

 

A whine escapes Neil’s throat, involuntary, tired. He’s so tired of lying. He’s tired of keeping the truth from one of his closest friends, from an honest man who showed him nothing but compassion and love. He’s tired of being Jonathan. He’s tired of being someone else other than Andrew’s partner, Andrew’s nothing.

 

He’s also afraid. Afraid of what might happen to Andrew if Jonathan dies and Neil comes back to life, afraid of what might happen to Neil if somehow the word spreads far enough to Detroit. What if Andrew comes looking for him? What if the police come looking for him? What if bringing Neil to life endangers everything that they’ve been working on until now?

 

The plans for an escape to Sanctuary are ready.

 

Is Neil?

Is Jonathan?

 

**> TELL THE TRUTH**

**> LIE**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dear gays;
> 
> THINK BEFORE U CLICK
> 
> thank u for the love ily all I will be more active I promise
> 
> (@nyxoss hmu on tumblr)


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